NSL shown the exit from 100 Day Club

by Hamzah Omar Yaacob

HEY, don’t jinx it! Especially if it means unleashing Singaporeans’ worst nightmare: MRT breakdowns.

In a blogpost on Tuesday (April 19), Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan praised the North South Line (NSL) for “having achieved 100 days without any major incident“. Two days later riders whizzed off in NSL trains echoing the very efficiency of Singapore’s public transport system: Not.

Commuters woke up to a disruption on the SMRT-operated line yesterday (April 22) that lasted from the start of service till 6.50am. The very vehicle tasked to keep trains running – a maintenance locomotive – had broken down and obstructed the way of trains. Maybe it was a rogue double agent working for rival train operator SBS Transit?

Coincidentally, within hours, SBS Transit’s North East Line (NEL) had a power fault, causing a 40 minute delay at 11am. As payback, did someone from SMRT snip some power lines?

It’s a pity though given that Mr Khaw had said in Parliament during Budget debates last week, that he was “look[ing] forward to welcoming them [NEL] to the ‘100-day Club’ next month”. Well, it only managed 78 days before yesterday’s disruption. As for the NSL, it was shown the exits from the elite club, after just two days.

But shame on you NEL! The 29 year-old NSL is much older compared to the 12 year-old NEL.

Perhaps that illustrates how difficult it is to earn a spot in the prestigious 100 days group, no matter how young or old the MRT line is. Unless you’re the super young and healthy Downtown Line that opened in 2013. As of today, it’s gone 182 days without failure. (That is if it doesn’t break down after this article is published.)

However, despite the difficulties, rail reliability here has been improving over the past few years. Trains are now travelling further before breaking down: 133,000 km last year compared to 93,000km in 2014. This is still well below Hong Kong’s 300,000km, but Mr Khaw said the game plan is to slowly catch up, setting a target of 200,000km. By when though? Mr Khaw didn’t say.

To get there, new monitoring systems will be put in place on the East West Line (EWL), NSL and NEL. Perhaps designed by MHA to deter future saboteurs? And let’s not forget the continual upgrading of trains and tracks, which according to Mr Khaw is costing the G “about a billion dollars”. For instance, the EWL and NSL have been undergoing track renewal and signal upgrading works, which will be fully completed by 2019.

 

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- Hamzah Omar Yaacob