LTA fines SMRT S$1.9m for fatal rail accident, tunnel flooding incident

SINGAPORE — Rail operator SMRT will receive fines totaling S$1.9 million by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for two major rail incidents that took place over the past two years, the authority said in a news release on Friday (July 20).

The first is the fatal accident near Pasir Ris station on March 22, 2016, which left two SMRT trainees dead after they were hit by a moving train while on the tracks.

They were part of a group of staff members on the railway tracks to investigate a possible signalling fault between Tampines and Pasir Ris stations. 

The LTA said it intends to impose a financial penalty of S$400,000 for "breach of license arising from…procedural lapses".

This is over and above the fine that SMRT Trains was sentenced to under the Workplace Safety and Health Act, for failing to take necessary measures to ensure its employees' safety and health at work.

The LTA said its own investigations revealed that the SMRT work team had "failed to comply with operating procedures for access to the tracks during train service hours".

"These lapses were further compounded by inadequate supervision of MRT operations at the time of the accident," it added. 

The second rail incident was the tunnel flooding incident which took place on Oct 7-8 last year in the North-South Line tunnels. The LTA, which will be imposing a fine of S$1.5 million on SMRT, said its investigations found the rail operator to be "fully responsible" for the incident.

The flooding in the tunnels led to a 14.5-hour train service disruption between Ang Mo Kio and Newton stations along the North-South Line. It also affected more than 230,000 commuters.

"(The) incident was entirely preventable if the Bishan storm water sump pit and its pumping system had been properly maintained," the LTA said on Friday.

SMRT said it was the falsification of records which contributed to the incident, and had carried out recovery works and preventive measures at the Bishan stormwater sump pit and other tunnel portal pumping systems.

The fines collected will go to the Public Transport Fund to help needy families with transport fares, the LTA said on Friday.

Separately, the LTA also said investigations into a train collision at Joo Koon station on Nov 15 last year was not due to SMRT's actions.

Instead, it was because there was a "software logic issue" with the new Communications-Based Train Control system that "had not been configured to cater for the failure conditions", the LTA said.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming apologised for the incidents.

"Since the incidents, SMRT has implemented various measures … to continually strengthen and enhance our systems, processes, and staff management," he said.