COI not necessary; best to focus on finding cause of breakdown: Lui Tuck Yew

SINGAPORE — While the simultaneous breakdown of two MRT lines yesterday (July 7) was unprecedented, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said it is unnecessary to convene another Committee of Inquiry (COI) because efforts should be focused on pinpointing the cause of the disruption.

“I don’t think another COI is necessary ... I think it is more useful to make sure that SMRT and LTA concentrate on finding the definitive cause of the incident,” said Mr Lui, referring to the operator of the affected MRT lines and regulator Land Transport Authority. 

“If you can find the definitive cause, you can take the necessary corrective actions, and then you have a certain peace of mind that you have resolved those faults that caused the disruption. So I think that’s where we need to concentrate our effort right now.”

Mr Lui was speaking to reporters at Ang Mo Kio MRT Station, which he visited this morning to observe the running of the trains.

A COI was set up in the aftermath of the North-South Line suffering three breakdowns in four days in December 2011. Although the outage of the North-South and East-West Lines during evening peak-period yesterday only lasted about three hours and full service resumed today, it was the first time two lines on the network have ground to a halt concurrently.

At a press conference today, SMRT said its overnight checks uncovered three problems that could have caused the power trips precipitating the shutdown. 

But Mr Lui said investigations are not expected to conclude for “a number of days” because much of the probing on the lines, which stretch to nearly 100km, has to be done during non-service hours. “That’s going to take you a number of night hours, because each night we only have about 3-4 hours to do those checks.”

Mr Lui also apologised for the “massive” disruption. “I’m sorry that it has affected so many commuters during the evening peak hours. Many of them faced uncertainties and disruptions to their normal routine,” said the minister, who added that it is understandable for the public’s confidence in public transport to be dented by the incident.

“As with every major disruption there will be a period of time before you can fully have confidence ... Over time, when you have a sustained period without major disruption, then you slowly gain confidence that things are going well,” he added.

Those sitting on the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport agreed with Mr Lui that the focus now should be on finding the root cause of the breakdown.

“A COI costs a lot of money, so I think it is important to understand what happened before seeing if a COI is necessary,” said Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh added that finding out the cause of the problem will help restore the system to normal services. “We should wait to see the outcomes of the investigations before we see if a COI is needed.”

Asked what they thought SMRT could have done better in terms of managing the incident, Mr Lim said: “I think that it is important the service recovers promptly. Breakdowns will happen. That’s just reality. We must just try to minimise them.”

On improving the reliability of train service, Mr Gan said the maintenance regime may need altering, so that checks are sufficiently stringent.