Desmond Kuek urges SMRT staff to come out 'better and stronger' after 'collective shame' from tunnel flooding incident

SINGAPORE — A day after an extensive parliamentary airing of last month’s flooding incident on the North South MRT line, rail operator SMRT’s group chief executive Desmond Kuek urged staff in an internal memo to emerge “better and stronger” from the episode.

“This will be a crucial new beginning for SMRT if we commit ourselves to a culture of discipline and excellence in providing safe, reliable, commuter-focused public transport services that Singaporeans can be proud of,” he wrote in an e-mail to staff on Wednesday (Nov 8).

Mr Kuek said the 30th anniversary of MRT operations should have been a celebration.

“Instead, we were awash in collective shame because a few of our staff had let us down. They did not do what they were entrusted to. Their supervisors assumed that nothing would go wrong just because it hadn’t gone wrong before,” he wrote.

“Many of you have worked hard and have remained loyal in SMRT for many years. It is unfortunate that our good deeds are being buried by such an incident. We should take this as a lesson learnt.”

He urged staff to have “integrity and not be dishonest”, stressing the need to “be accountable” and “vigilant” in their work.

“Every day, we uphold trust and open reporting without fear of reprisal from our superiors. Managers and supervisors must be responsible for the performance of their teams. Every team must be accountable for the actions of each member,” he wrote.

Mr Kuek’s email, which was seen by TODAY, was sent a day after Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s Ministerial Statement in Parliament on the incident, which crippled a section of the North South Line for over 20 hours and affected about 250,000 commuters.

Mr Kuek was present in the public gallery, along with SMRT’s chairman Mr Seah Moon Ming, SMRT Trains chief Lee Ling Wee, Land Transport Authority (LTA) chief executive Ngien Hoon Ping and LTA deputy chief of Infrastructure and Development Chua Chong Kheng.

Calling out the “work culture” in SMRT, Mr Khaw had said he looked to SMRT’s management to set the right tone of professionalism and excellence, to complement the audit systems in place.

“If there is poor work culture, the CEO is responsible. You set the corporate culture,” Mr Khaw had said, adding Mr Kuek had volunteered for the position.

Mr Khaw also expressed confidence in Mr Seah who, on Wednesday, made an unannounced visit to Ang Mo Kio to meet train captains and station staff.

According to an SMRT Facebook post, Mr Seah had told staff that SMRT will “strengthen its management and maintenance teams” and “enhance operational discipline”.

“We will continue to instil a strong sense of accountability, duty and ownership in staff. Learning from this incident, we will improve the auditing and supervision of Building & Facilities maintenance works,” said Mr Seah.

SMRT said Mr Seah intends to hold more sharing sessions with staff and would like to see the senior management team follow suit.

On October 7, the train tunnel near Bishan MRT station flooded after rainfall — the result of poor maintenance of the flood protection system that had been masked by falsified records.

Six members of SMRT’s Building and Facilities Maintenance group responsible for the maintenance of the pump system at Bishan MRT Station have been suspended and are assisting in SMRT’s investigations.

Another seven managerial staff from this maintenance group — including two executives at the vice-president level — have been suspended and will face a further inquiry for their supervisory responsibility in the lapses.