The current MRT disruption on the East-West Line is probably going to be the defining service disruption incident of 2024. Barring any further delays, we’re looking at just one day shy of a whole week of significant travel inconveniences on the East-West Line.
I’m surprised this time there is much narrative circulating about how much better SMRT, the train operator on the East-West Line, has gotten in putting their contingency plans in action. There are warm stories about volunteers helping to support commuters, taxis providing free rides to students sitting for PSLE, and then, calls for appreciation to the many staff working hard to get train services resumed. There are so many photo ops, including with the Minister of Transport, turning what is supposed to be a seriously embarrassing bungle into some sort of community action we are supposed to applaud.
It sounds a bit unreal. Maybe we have gotten so used to MRT disruptions that people have decided to cut them some slack. They need a break.
I don’t want to sound unappreciative of all the work that is being done. Yes, I know people are working very hard. However, I do wonder if our MRT operators and regulator has learnt anything new and made any meaningful improvements from previous failures. Maybe, this “rare incident” could have been avoided, or at least its fallout could have been mitigated.
Let’s just remember that $2.6B (yes, billion dollars) is being spent on renewing our East-West and North-South Lines. That’s not for the entire train network; it’s for just 2 lines. Amazingly, a train can cause a 2.2 km trail of disruption before being stopped. I presume there are still very limited tracking switching points in the network, thus resulting in the faulty train causing damage further along in the wrong direction from where it was said to have withdrawn to, and perhaps why damage between two adjacent stations would disrupt service between nine stations initially. Didn’t someone talk about predictive maintenance? Was this predicted, and if not, why not? What was it about all the high tech sensors that were installed, did they not detect anything amiss?
I am sure there are great answers to all those questions. You can’t completely prevent every kind of problem. There are budget constrains to contend with. I understand, we have to strike a balance.
However, I strongly feel that our train operators and Land Transport Authority must strive to do better. Please don’t make excuses. Please stop making comparisons about how we’re not worse than Hong Kong or some other countries. Can we just focus on doing better? Are there not lessons to be learnt? To have the kind of “it can’t be helped” mentality will spell disaster for our public transport system. Instead, can we look how the problem could have occurred, and how we could have prevented or mitigated it?
The Circle Line breakdown in the prior week was found to have involved a breach in maintenance protocol. I understand this disruption is not related to the East-West Line disruption, but I do want to link it to a seemingly underlying problem that may still persist in SMRT. It is a cultural problem of mediocrity.
SMRT doesn’t seem very interest to strive for excellence, and instead are happy to just settle for not being the worst, or maybe at best to be average. Perhaps the Land Transport Authority is also to be blamed for lacking an excellence mindset.
Take a look at how SIA strives to be the best airline, or how Changi Airport strives to be the best airport. Can you imagine if SIA reduces itself to comparing with Eva Air? (Eva Air is ranked #8 in SkyTrax World Airline Awards in 2024.) Or if Changi Airport sets its bar at the standard of Hong Kong International Airport? (Hong Kong International Airport is ranked #11 in SkyTrax World Airport Awards in 2024.) SIA and Changi Airport will not be where they are if they had a culture of mediocrity.
We improve ourselves by recognising our mistakes and failures, learn from them, and then make changes to do better. That you cannot ensure protocols are followed, in the case of the Circle Line breakdown, is testament that you really can’t be bothered about making meaningful and impactful change. Two men had died, because of protocol failures, back in 2016, and here we’re still having problems with following protocols.
Also, once again I’m quite irked about how the authorities (SMRT and LTA in this case) felt the need to use smoke and mirrors in their communications to confuse people. The train derailed. Plain and simple. Somehow it was communicated in a more complicated way. It sure sounds like how the Joo Koon station train collision was described as two trains merely having “come into contact”.
Can we not just communicate in simple English? I get it that you are embarrassed. Don’t you think it’s even more embarrassing that we see you need to hide your embarrassment?
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