‘Zero disruptions’ unrealistic, but Singapore vows stronger rail reliability
Authorities will ‘work doubly hard’ to minimise service disruption, with a task force set up to address network resilience issues
“Train delays happen in every system, in every city,” Siow said during a parliamentary sitting on Monday.
“Our phones, our computers have to be restarted every now and then. Cars will break down too. So will our trains. But we aim to absolutely minimise the number of such incidents due to the inconvenience to commuters,” he said, adding that authorities would “work doubly hard to do so”.
His comments, delivered in a combined response to 18 questions from lawmakers, followed a string of service faults across several MRT and LRT lines in recent months, ranging from power outages and stalled trains to a major signal fault that suspended the Thomson-East Coast Line for two hours last week.
In response to those incidents, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operators SMRT and SBS Transit have set up a rail reliability task force aimed at identifying systemic weaknesses and strengthening the network’s resilience.
The task force, announced by Siow on Friday, is chaired by LTA chief executive Ng Lang and includes senior leadership from the two transport operators.