SINGAPORE — To reduce maintenance costs of MRT lines, the intervals between trains during off-peak periods could be further lengthened to match the reduced commuter demand, based on the findings of an international panel.

Revealing this to an audience of MRT employees from both SBS Transit and SMRT on Friday (Aug 30), Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that train intervals could be more dynamically managed, such that they are longer during off-peak periods and shorter during peak hours.

Mr Khaw said: “By adjusting train frequencies based on commuter demand, they optimise the use of resources. This also reduces unnecessary wear and tear on the system that drives up downstream maintenance costs.”

The findings came from an international panel of metro operators chaired by veteran public servant Tan Gee Paw. The former chairman of national water agency PUB was brought on board by Mr Khaw as his adviser on rail transportation.

To increase cost efficiency in rail operations, the foreign panel found that there was scope to “actively manage” the intervals between trains.

In response to TODAY's queries, a Land Transport Authority spokesperson said that currently, trains arrive at a frequency of up to three minutes during peak hours, and this will continue.

"For off-peak hours, trains currently operate at a frequency of around five minutes. This is still much more frequent than other established metro operators in the region," the spokesperson said.

The panel's recommendation follows ongoing cost-saving efforts by both transport operators, which have resulted in more than S$25 million in savings, he added. These efforts range from installing energy-saving modes in trains to expanding the job scopes of station staff members.

At SBS Transit, assistant station managers at the North-East Line and Downtown Line are trained to take on customer service roles. This has allowed the operator to reduce the number of customer service officers during peak periods by 25 per cent and save S$1.1 million a year.

As operators seek to slash costs, an annual fare review exercise will also take place later this year. Fare prices are expected to go up, given the intensive maintenance effort in recent years to improve rail reliability.

A review of the fare formula is also due by 2023. In Parliament last month, Mr Khaw said that the formula has not been strictly followed until recently, which was partly why transport operators are unable to cover their rising costs with fares alone.

In their latest financial year reports, SMRT Trains incurred a loss of S$86 million, while SBS Transit’s train division also lost tens of millions of dollars.

Mr Khaw noted how train services in other countries are not uniform throughout the day. During off-peak periods in Hong Kong, for example, trains run at intervals of between eight and 14 minutes. In Taipei, the intervals during these periods can be up to 10 minutes.

An “adaptive headway management” that can achieve this effect is now used by SBS Transit to manage buses, and Mr Khaw urged the transport operator to experiment this with its train lines, too.

The panel also looked at other ways of achieving rail reliability at a lower cost, as well as to improve the efficiency of maintenance through corrective and predictive maintenance capabilities, such as by adopting data analytics.

Some of these efforts will be showcased at the upcoming Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress hosted by Singapore, and will be rolled out for the Downtown Line in 2020, Mr Khaw said.

MILESTONE REACHED

On friday, Mr Khaw celebrated the one million mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) milestone reached for the entire MRT network in July.

He singled out SBS Transit, because the North-East Line has consistently exceeded the one million mark since July 2018, he noted.

Both its North-East Line and Downtown Line also crossed a 300-day milestone without a major delay of more than 30 minutes. The Sengkang-Punggol LRT Line had hit the 200-day goal as well.

“Four years ago, crossing the 100-day mark was such a big challenge for all our lines, MRT or LRT... As our efforts deliver results on the ground, we were able to show improvements in this metric,” Mr Khaw said.

Such a feat is not guaranteed, however, as there are other lines that are ageing, he said.

“Today’s achievement does not guarantee future success, especially for the older lines like the North-South Line and the East-West Line, where we are replacing all the assets and we are only halfway through the renewal process, meaning other older assets may cause us problems.

“So our eyes will have to be on the ball and press on. Our achievement in the past 12 months shows that we have what it takes.”