LTA to look at improving acceptance process of MRT infrastructure
SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking at how it can improve its "acceptance process" of rail systems before putting them into service.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said this is one of the lessons drawn from last year's Circle Line train service disruption.
The acceptance process looks at whether the equipment and installations on new rail structures match LTA's specifications.
Some 27,000 commuters were affected in last September's Circle Line train disruption, which lasted four hours during the morning peak period.
The LTA said on 22 June that the cause was traced to faulty power cables.
Investigations also revealed manufacturing defects on some cables.
LTA will embark on a planned cable replacement programme to change the defective cables for greater MRT service reliability.
Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Saturday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said LTA will look at improving its acceptance test of new rail lines.
He added that authorities took some time to investigate last September's Circle Line breakdown, as some defects are not easy to detect.
"Hopefully we will learn from it to improve on it, to improve on the acceptance process of the system. Before the system is put into operation you do extensive testing, but you also do an acceptance process. So we will need to look at it and see how we can improve on the acceptance.
"But some of these defects, let me tell you, are also not easy to pick up. It is not easy to pick up, which is why, we had to have such a long interval between the September Dakota incident and now the release of the investigation because we had to actually send quite a number of batches of the cables for further testing, in order to be able to identify and determine how extensive some of the defects in the cable are."
Mr Lui also gave an update on the Committee of Inquiry (COI) tasked to look into last December's train disruptions on the North-South line.
More than 200,000 commuters were affected in the two major disruptions, which took place on the December 15 and 17 in 2011.
He said the committee, which completed its hearing on 25 May, is finalising its report.
He added the inquiry has been thorough and comprehensive.
"We have already seen some of the possible recommendations that were talked about even as they went through the process of the COI. I believe they are at the end stage of putting together the report and I will await their submission.
"When the recommendations come out, we will of course study them very carefully, look at what else we need to do to make sure we improve on the maintenance and the reliability of the system.
"It will take time and I think it will be a process where we really need to pay stringent attention to what is being done both within SMRT and in time to come what is also done in SBS Transit."
Mr Lui reiterated that improvements have been made already. This includes establishing the joint LTA and SMRT team to investigate faults and problems.
He said the maintenance philosophy has also been re-looked.
Mr Lui said he expects to receive the committee's report soon.
- CNA/ck
By Olivia Siong |
Posted: 23 June 2012 1745 hrs
SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking at how it can improve its "acceptance process" of rail systems before putting them into service.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said this is one of the lessons drawn from last year's Circle Line train service disruption.
The acceptance process looks at whether the equipment and installations on new rail structures match LTA's specifications.
Some 27,000 commuters were affected in last September's Circle Line train disruption, which lasted four hours during the morning peak period.
The LTA said on 22 June that the cause was traced to faulty power cables.
Investigations also revealed manufacturing defects on some cables.
LTA will embark on a planned cable replacement programme to change the defective cables for greater MRT service reliability.
Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Saturday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said LTA will look at improving its acceptance test of new rail lines.
He added that authorities took some time to investigate last September's Circle Line breakdown, as some defects are not easy to detect.
"Hopefully we will learn from it to improve on it, to improve on the acceptance process of the system. Before the system is put into operation you do extensive testing, but you also do an acceptance process. So we will need to look at it and see how we can improve on the acceptance.
"But some of these defects, let me tell you, are also not easy to pick up. It is not easy to pick up, which is why, we had to have such a long interval between the September Dakota incident and now the release of the investigation because we had to actually send quite a number of batches of the cables for further testing, in order to be able to identify and determine how extensive some of the defects in the cable are."
Mr Lui also gave an update on the Committee of Inquiry (COI) tasked to look into last December's train disruptions on the North-South line.
More than 200,000 commuters were affected in the two major disruptions, which took place on the December 15 and 17 in 2011.
He said the committee, which completed its hearing on 25 May, is finalising its report.
He added the inquiry has been thorough and comprehensive.
"We have already seen some of the possible recommendations that were talked about even as they went through the process of the COI. I believe they are at the end stage of putting together the report and I will await their submission.
"When the recommendations come out, we will of course study them very carefully, look at what else we need to do to make sure we improve on the maintenance and the reliability of the system.
"It will take time and I think it will be a process where we really need to pay stringent attention to what is being done both within SMRT and in time to come what is also done in SBS Transit."
Mr Lui reiterated that improvements have been made already. This includes establishing the joint LTA and SMRT team to investigate faults and problems.
He said the maintenance philosophy has also been re-looked.
Mr Lui said he expects to receive the committee's report soon.
- CNA/ck
