Maintain high rail reliability standards to retain confidence of commuters

Concern has grown over reliability of MRT network given recent spate of disruptions

- Lee Nian Tjoe

Even before the ongoing investigations into the major disruption on the East-West Line (EWL) in September have drawn conclusions, concern has mounted over the reliability of the entire MRT network.

In Parliament this week, some 21 MPs posed questions on two main topics: Is the current maintenance regime of the MRT network sufficient, and are the operators committing enough resources to ensure that it remains reliable?

It could be that the breakdown on the EWL was a one-off episode - albeit a very disruptive one - rather than something stemming from a fundamental issue in the way rail maintenance is handled.

Still, the concern is understandable, given the massive impact of the incident.

On each of the six days that service stopped on the EWL, 500,000 out of 2.8 million MRT journeys were affected.

Among those affected were children taking the Primary School Leaving Examination and N-level examinations. Daily commuters who relied on the train had to make different arrangements that were less than ideal in terms of time, expense and effort.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Workers' Party (WP) MP Dennis Tan (Hougang) were among the MPs who wanted to know if the existing maintenance regime needed a relook. Others, like Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC), questioned if the operators had taken their foot off the pedal on maintenance efforts.

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat responded that as part of the ongoing investigation, the existing processes for maintenance are also being checked. This is on top of the regular review of such protocols that is conducted with operators SMRT and SBS Transit.