Transport Ministry’s next priority: Overall health of LRT system

SINGAPORE — Nearly a day after a fire shut down the entire Bukit Panjang LRT line, train services were finally fully restored yesterday afternoon, as calls for beleaguered public transport operator SMRT to address “root problems” with its service standards continued to mount.

Commenting on the 23-hour disruption, Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew, who kept up a stream of updates on the restoration efforts on his Facebook page yesterday, said the ministry’s next priority is to review the “overall health of the LRT system”.

SMRT’s latest quarterly figures for FY2015 showed that the Bukit Panjang LRT line had about 4.4 million riders in the third quarter, or an average of more than 48,800 riders a day. The line has been plagued with issues since it opened in 1999, including a five-day shutdown in 2002.

“The LTA-SMRT Joint Team will conduct a thorough investigation and provide its assessments and recommendations,” said Mr Lui, who in an earlier post said he was extremely concerned about the disruption.

SMRT and the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) efforts to restore services began on Monday evening and ran overnight. SMRT engineers first had to bypass the faulty power tie-breaker damaged in the fire at Senja station before they could proceed to test 20 train cars on the line, beginning 6.40am yesterday. Engineers also inspected power tie-breakers across the entire system before restoring services. The faulty power tie-breaker has been sent for further testing.

By 12.30pm, services were only partially restored and the free bus and bus bridging services had to be extended. To guide commuters, SMRT deployed 100 additional customer service staff to all bus bridging points and LRT stations.

As repairs and tests were carried out, Mr Lui also visited the line and shared a picture of a burnt power tie-breaker on his Facebook page, one of the six updates he made over 12 hours.

In a statement yesterday evening after services were fully restored at 4.30pm, SMRT trains managing director Lee Ling Wee said: “We deeply apologise for the inconvenience this disruption has caused commuters. A full investigation is being conducted and we will provide details when ready.”

Investigations showed that a tie-breaker had overheated and caught fire. The fire, which took place in Senja station’s plant room, was preceded by a power trip between Pending and Jelapang stations about 15 minutes earlier.

The incident followed a series of service breakdowns on various lines run by SMRT in recent weeks, including two on March 3, prompting the operator to bring forward plans to improve service reliability, including setting up a centralised maintenance operations centre.

Posting on Facebook shortly after LRT services were fully resumed, Mr Lui said: “I know that it will take more testing and time for the train service to fully stabilise and return to normal, and before we are confident that the spate of problems since (Monday) has been resolved. The LTA and SMRT must continue to put maximum effort and resources into this, and work towards restoring full service before the evening peak period.”

Bukit Panjang residents and LRT commuters whom TODAY spoke to expressed unhappiness over the prolonged breakdown, but commended the free bus services and LRT train rides offered, which will be extended until noon today.

The incident caused Senja resident B Mary to be late for work by 15 minutes. “It was quite frustrating. I was hoping in the morning that (the LRT service) would be up,” said the 36-year-old, who works as an accountant at Biopolis. While shuttle buses were frequent and not crowded, the peak hour traffic slowed down her journey.

While her confidence in the LRT system has been dented, Ms Mary noted that she has been using the service for years and breakdowns have not led to loss of life or injury. “I will continue using it,” she said.

Carpark attendant Quek Jia Yu learnt about the halted LRT services yesterday morning through SMRT’s updates on social media before leaving home. She left home 20 minutes earlier and took the free bus service from South View station to Jelapang station. The breakdown was a little inconvenient, said 17-year-old, who took 30 minutes to reach her workplace instead of the usual 10 minutes.

Mountbatten SMC Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said the series of breakdowns has undermined commuters’ confidence in the reliability of rail services.

Saying commuters would want action rather than words, he called on SMRT to “pour in all the resources” to minimise breakdowns.