SINGAPORE — It is “likely” that Singapore’s two busiest MRT train lines - the North-South and East-West Lines - will see shortened operating hours on weekdays to give rail workers more time to carry out maintenance and asset renewal work, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan told Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 7).
“Given the scale of outstanding asset replacement programmes, we will need many more extended engineering hours, perhaps even on weekdays. So I am serving notice,” Mr Khaw said during his ministerial statement addressing a slew of questions on last month’s tunnel flooding on the North-South Line (NSL).
“Line closures will, of course, inconvenience commuters. I seek commuters’ understanding and patience should we decide to do so. We are likely to do so.” Explaining that the limited non-service hours were a “significant” obstacle to speeding up the renewal of ageing rail assets, Mr Khaw said he has asked the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to work with operator SMRT to see how more time can be “squeezed out” for engineering.
He noted that rail operators, especially SMRT, have to perform both scheduled and corrective maintenance work as well as carry out numerous asset renewal works such as the re-signalling project within the few hours every night when trains are not running.
“The punishing schedule takes its toll on the workers, and forces the operators to prioritise between many urgent and important tasks,” he added.
This is not the first time shortened hours are being explored for the two lines.
From June to October last year, train services at 13 MRT stations on the North-South and East-West lines started running an hour later on Sundays for scheduled renewal and maintenance works, including replacing the track-sleepers.
Before that, in 2015, to enable the replacement of track-sleepers, SMRT ended train services 30 minutes early from 2015 at certain MRT stations on the East-West Line from Sundays to Thursdays, excluding the eve of public holidays.
This allowed SMRT engineering crew to replace 25 per cent more track-sleepers each night.
Even then, Mr Khaw had suggested that more time could be set aside on early Sunday mornings or the school holidays for maintenance of the two lines.
And as far back as 2012, former Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew had mooted the idea of temporarily closing some train stations over the weekend or just for a few hours on Sunday for scheduled maintenance and upgrading work.
In his parliamentary speech on Tuesday, Mr Khaw noted that the shortened operating hours for the replacement of track-sleepers last year had been “a great help”, but added that “many more” such extensions to engineering hours were needed given the “scale of outstanding asset replacement programmes”.
He pointed out that metro systems elsewhere have the option of shutting an entire line for substantial work to be carried out. “We do not. Closing a major rail line like the North-South and East-West Lines to expedite these renewal works would certainly help us get to our destination sooner,” Mr Khaw said, referring to the urgent plans to renew six core components of the North-South and East-West Lines by 2024.
These are the sleepers, third rail, signalling system, power supply, track circuits and the old first-generation trains.
The Republic’s oldest lines remain “at risk of major disruptions” until these key ageing systems are replaced or renewed, Mr Khaw reiterated.
Member of Parliament (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) Liang Eng Hwa asked if the Government would consider beefing up bus services to ply along routes where there are limited alternative transport options, especially where rail lines face frequent trip-ups, such as the Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (BPLRT) system.
Responding, Mr Khaw said this was possible for the LRT, but for the MRT, the difference in capacity was “just too wide”.
Several weeks ago, he asked the LTA to look into shortening the LRT’s operation hours, especially during off-peak periods, and replace services with buses. This would allow for a fleet of buses and drivers that may come in handy during peak-hour disruptions.
“Even if we have the money to get all the buses and if we can get all the drivers, the roads will be chock-a-block,” he said.
Weighing in on the Bukit Panjang LRT last month, Mr Khaw said an extensive shutdown for major upgrading work was among the options the Government was evaluating for the system.
He added, however, that he would be “hard put” to take this decision as it could mean residents going without the LRT service for three years.
Transport economist Walter Theseira from the Singapore University of Social Sciences had told TODAY that closing a feeder service like the Bukit Panjang LRT was feasible, although this would not be viable for heavily used MRT lines.
SMRT had later said the Bukit Panjang LRT would begin operations at 7am, instead of 5.30am, on all Sundays from this week until year’s end, to allow more time for work to improve service reliability.
http://www.todayonline.com/singapor...y-see-shortened-operating-hours-weekdays-khaw
