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Consortium in train controversy breaks silence

SINGAPORE — The Japanese-Chinese consortium at the heart of a growing controversy over defective subway trains in Singapore has broken its silence.

SINGAPORE — The Japanese-Chinese consortium at the heart of a growing controversy over defective subway trains in Singapore has broken its silence.

In a two-page statement on Thursday night (July 7), the Kawasaki-Sifang consortium (KSF) hit back at what it termed “groundless allegation of wrong doing” and maintained that “it has resolved and will resolve all issues satisfactorily”.

The KSF consortium consists of Japanese train-maker Kawasaki Heavy Industries and the Qingdao-based CSR Sifang. The two firms, together with Kawasaki’s Singapore subsidiary, had bagged a S$368 million contract in 2009 to supply 22 six-car C151A-model trains meant for the North-South and East-West Lines. SMRT subsequently ordered another 13 trains of the same model.

It emerged this week that hairline cracks had been discovered on 26 of the 35 trains, and that they would have to be shipped back to China for rectification works.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) disclosed on Wednesday night that the hairline cracks found in the trains “were due to localised impurity in the aluminium car-body material that occurred during the manufacturing process”.

In its statement, KSF did not explain why or how the problem could have occurred. But it noted: “KSF confirms that all the content in the LTA press release are true and has no other technical comments to add.”

It did, however, take issue with unconfirmed online media reports accusing KSF of faking test data for its trains. The consortium said the allegations were untrue, adding: “KSF accords a high level of integrity when carrying out testing and commissioning works ... there are no ways to cover up any non-conformity to the specifications”.

KSF’s statement was sent to several newsrooms by Mr Ng Choon Seng, 55, a manager at the rolling stock division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

He confirmed in an interview with TODAY that the letter was sent on behalf of the Kawasaki-Sifang consortium and that a copy of the statement had also been sent to the LTA.

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