Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

‘The SMRT team in charge of maintaining the anti-flood system at Bishan has failed us’

The incident on the evening of October 7 was preventable. It should not have happened. We are all sorry that it did. I have therefore invited the Members of Parliament from the Transport Government Parliamentary Committee and the media to this dialogue to give you a full explanation. Please ask any questions, so that you can have a good understanding of what had actually happened.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan did not mince words when he gave his first public comments on the Oct 7 North-South Line disruption caused by the flooding of a tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan did not mince words when he gave his first public comments on the Oct 7 North-South Line disruption caused by the flooding of a tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

The incident on the evening of October 7 was preventable. It should not have happened. We are all sorry that it did. I have therefore invited the Members of Parliament from the Transport Government Parliamentary Committee and the media to this dialogue to give you a full explanation. Please ask any questions, so that you can have a good understanding of what had actually happened.

I could have done (this) last week... as soon as we established the facts. But I was really very busy hosting the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) meeting and that’s why we waited until today.

But whatever follow-up action that’s needed had already started and proceeded immediately after the incident. So nothing was held up because of this delay. In fact, until October 7, friends and colleagues knew that I had been looking forward to October. Several good things (were supposed to happen) in October.

First, the North-South Line re-signaling project. I think that we have turned the corner and it’s stabilising.

Secondly, I’ll be chairing the Asean Transport Ministers meeting here in Singapore, with very substantial progress in Asean-wide transport cooperation. We signed so many agreements. You know behind every Asean agreement is many thousands of man-months of negotiations and so on. With our chairmanship, I think we’ve achieved quite a lot.

Third, we’re opening Downtown Line 3 and (Changi Airport) Terminal 4. These are all important milestones for Singapore and Singaporeans.

October, we knew, will be a busy month for my ministry. But it will be a proud moment.

Unfortunately, the October 7 event came about. It upset the tempo and it pushed back the recovery of public confidence in us. It is sad and it’s so unnecessary. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will present their findings and their conclusion. Actually it’s quite simple.

Basically, MRT tunnels are designed to handle our weather and can cope with very extreme storms, far more severe than what we saw or what we experienced in the last two weeks.

There are standard anti-flooding systems with huge storm water sump pits and reservoirs, equipped with pumps and float switches. The bottomline is that MRT tunnels should not be flooded, full-stop.

But on October 7, 5:30pm, that stretch of North-South Line between Bishan and Braddell did, and MRT service had to be suspended.

Our finding is that the anti-flooding system there had been poorly maintained. The LTA will show you the evidence.

But let me explain to you in simple English. The storm water pit – what is the capacity? More than 5,000 cubic metres. The rainfall during that period over the catchment area could not have exceeded 700 cubic metres. Let’s stretch it, say 1,000 cubic metres. That’s 20 per cent. But actually only 700 cubic metres (of rainwater fell).

If it were well-maintaned, it should be empty before the rain starts to fall right? But it was not. It overflowed. So obviously, the tank or the pit – whatever you call it – could not have been maintained properly, and that’s why the flooding happened.

The SMRT team in charge of maintaining the anti-flood system at Bishan has failed us.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.