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Train operator SMRT is biting the bullet and changing a slew of components and systems on its ageing North-South and East-West lines in the wake of a spate of breakdowns.
The programme - the most ambitious and comprehensive in the company's 25-year history - will be rolled out over the next eight years.
It will cost an estimated $900 million, and will be co-funded by the Land Transport Authority. The amount includes previously announced plans to change the two lines' signalling system.
This is more than what SMRT had spent on repairs and maintenance in the last decade.
SMRT interim chief executive Tan Ek Kia announced this at a press conference on Tuesday. It was called to explain the string of five breakdowns that took place in the last two weeks, even as the Committee of Inquiry looking into SMRT's two major train disruptions last December entered its seventh day.
Mr Tan said the company has been ramping up its maintenance regime in recent months, but decided that this was not enough.
'As the system ages, our maintenance regime needs to adapt from one that focuses on repair and overhaul, to one which also includes replacement and renewal,' he said.
The programme calls for the replacement of several infrastructural and systems parts. These include metal claws which keep the power-supplying 'third rail' in place, wooden rail sleepers that hold up the tracks, train propulsion systems and train pneumatic systems.
The move comes just days after Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew summoned Mr Tan and SMRT chairman Koh Yong Guan over last week's breakdowns and told them that 'taking a business-as-usual approach was not sufficient' to lick the problem.
On Tuesday, Mr Tan admitted as much. 'With the benefit of hindsight, we have to adapt so that if a particular area, due to age or obsolescence, we need to replace rather than maintain, that's what we should do,' he said at the Bishan depot.
The number of train faults has been creeping up in recent years. In 2009, there were about 1.5 to two incidents for every 100,000km plied. This rose to around 2.5 to three in 2010 and early last year.
Then, from the second half of last year to the first quarter of this year, there were 3.5 to four faults for every 100,000km clocked.
Mr Tan said the higher rate of faults should be seen in the context of a number of factors. He pointed out that 66 trains, or half its fleet, were 25 years old.
Some 136km of tracks, or 70 per cent of its network, were between 21 and 24 years old. Ridership has also grown by more than 16 per cent to 606 million between 2009 and last year.
Even so, Mr Tan appeared contrite at Tuesday's press conference. 'I want to apologise to our customers who have suffered a lot of inconvenience,' he said.
He also said SMRT was grateful to its rival SBS Transit for helping in the recent breakdowns by increasing bus and train runs.
Meanwhile, commuters should brace themselves for the two lines shutting down in stages for the upgrading works over the next few years.
Likely periods will be Sunday nights from 10pm, allowing a window period of about eight hours for work before service resumes on Monday morning.
The most daunting parts of the upgrading programme will be replacing the 200,000 wooden rail sleepers and changing the signalling system to one that is more reliable and which will allow more frequent train runs.
A system will also be put in place that measures track vibration levels, to help the operator identify and address potential problems.
Mr Tan said: 'We have been working very hard, but the results have not been evident... but that has not diminished our resolve. There is a lot of work in front of us.'
http://www.straitstimes.com/The-Big-Story/The-Big-Story-3/Story/STIStory_792408.html
The programme - the most ambitious and comprehensive in the company's 25-year history - will be rolled out over the next eight years.
It will cost an estimated $900 million, and will be co-funded by the Land Transport Authority. The amount includes previously announced plans to change the two lines' signalling system.
This is more than what SMRT had spent on repairs and maintenance in the last decade.
SMRT interim chief executive Tan Ek Kia announced this at a press conference on Tuesday. It was called to explain the string of five breakdowns that took place in the last two weeks, even as the Committee of Inquiry looking into SMRT's two major train disruptions last December entered its seventh day.
Mr Tan said the company has been ramping up its maintenance regime in recent months, but decided that this was not enough.
'As the system ages, our maintenance regime needs to adapt from one that focuses on repair and overhaul, to one which also includes replacement and renewal,' he said.
The programme calls for the replacement of several infrastructural and systems parts. These include metal claws which keep the power-supplying 'third rail' in place, wooden rail sleepers that hold up the tracks, train propulsion systems and train pneumatic systems.
The move comes just days after Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew summoned Mr Tan and SMRT chairman Koh Yong Guan over last week's breakdowns and told them that 'taking a business-as-usual approach was not sufficient' to lick the problem.
On Tuesday, Mr Tan admitted as much. 'With the benefit of hindsight, we have to adapt so that if a particular area, due to age or obsolescence, we need to replace rather than maintain, that's what we should do,' he said at the Bishan depot.
The number of train faults has been creeping up in recent years. In 2009, there were about 1.5 to two incidents for every 100,000km plied. This rose to around 2.5 to three in 2010 and early last year.
Then, from the second half of last year to the first quarter of this year, there were 3.5 to four faults for every 100,000km clocked.
Mr Tan said the higher rate of faults should be seen in the context of a number of factors. He pointed out that 66 trains, or half its fleet, were 25 years old.
Some 136km of tracks, or 70 per cent of its network, were between 21 and 24 years old. Ridership has also grown by more than 16 per cent to 606 million between 2009 and last year.
Even so, Mr Tan appeared contrite at Tuesday's press conference. 'I want to apologise to our customers who have suffered a lot of inconvenience,' he said.
He also said SMRT was grateful to its rival SBS Transit for helping in the recent breakdowns by increasing bus and train runs.
Meanwhile, commuters should brace themselves for the two lines shutting down in stages for the upgrading works over the next few years.
Likely periods will be Sunday nights from 10pm, allowing a window period of about eight hours for work before service resumes on Monday morning.
The most daunting parts of the upgrading programme will be replacing the 200,000 wooden rail sleepers and changing the signalling system to one that is more reliable and which will allow more frequent train runs.
A system will also be put in place that measures track vibration levels, to help the operator identify and address potential problems.
Mr Tan said: 'We have been working very hard, but the results have not been evident... but that has not diminished our resolve. There is a lot of work in front of us.'
http://www.straitstimes.com/The-Big-Story/The-Big-Story-3/Story/STIStory_792408.html
