SINGAPORE — While rail upgrading efforts have helped to cut down the incidences of minor train service delays, the number of major delays has gone up and is a cause for concern, transport analysts told TODAY, saying that this may point to more fundamental issues with infrastructure.

Data released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Thursday (Jan 12) showed that the number of major delays lasting more than 30 minutes increased from 15 cases in 2015 to 16 last year, showing a steady upward trend since 2013.

The average distance travelled between delays climbed 30 per cent to 174,000 train-km across all five MRT lines last year. This was below the interim target of 200,000 train-km set by the LTA for rail operators in 2016.

Analysts were divided over whether the figures should raise alarm bells.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng said the numbers were “very distant” from the target of 400,000 train-km for 2018 set by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan last year.

This meant that “overall performance would need to improve 230 per cent”, he said, and it is not a tall order if the ongoing upgrading and renewal works are done quickly and effectively.

However, he cautioned that the operators are in a “race against time” in the lead-up to meeting the 2018 target.

UniSIM urban transport expert Park Byung Joon said rail operators should look at the statistics and take heart, because they also show a general upward trend for rail reliability, even if targets were not met.

On the drop in minor delays, Dr Park said it was the result of “greater resources put into inspection and maintenance”, but that the number of major delays reported recently pointed to causes such as power faults, which showed that there is an issue with ageing infrastructure.

The rise in major delays might also point to a “deeper, more fundamental issue” with the infrastructure. Prof Lee said this is something the rail operators and the authorities, such as the LTA, should take very seriously. If the delay was caused by something like a power fault, only the infrastructure owners, the LTA, are able to trigger the decision to improve rail infrastructure, he added.

Prof Lee suggested that they might be constrained by non-technical issues such as budget, and the timeliness of its decision-making.

On what more rail operators can do to beef up reliability, he said: “The LTA and rail operators can make use the big data they have, to identify the effective measures and the gaps, so that they can focus even more specifically on the actions to be taken.”

As for commuters who spoke to TODAY, they expressed satisfaction with rail services, saying they have noticed some improvements in reliability over the years. Ye Jin Jeon, 19, a student who travels mostly on the North-South Line, said: “The train (service) used to (be disrupted) at least a few times a week on my way to school a few years ago, but now, I can’t even remember a time when there was a delay.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JEONG HONGBIN