Singapore experienced its worst MRT disruption in the railway’s 37-year history last week when a withdrawn train derailed on last Wednesday, 25th September 2024. The breakdown affected about 2.1 million commuters. Our SMRT, and the Land Transport Authority LTA.
On 25 Sept 25 2024, an eastbound train developed a fault on the EWL near Clementi station. Apparently, an axle box had fallen off a first-generation train, resulting in what authorities described as “extensive damage” to the train track and equipment between Clementi and Dover stations. This, in turn, caused a power trip that led to the disruption on the East-West Line, one of the two original lines built back in the eighties. While the train was being withdrawn, a power trip was detected at 9.25am, causing another train on the EWL between Queenstown and Boon Lay stations to stall.
Our transport minister has been on the site explaining how extensive the damage has been, how hard the LTA and SMRT engineers have been working on segments that weigh more than a ton. I think we can all appreciate how hard people have been working to restore normal train service, but a little historical perspective is in order. Last year on 19 June 2023, the Straits Times, our newspaper, ran an article with SMRT Chairman saying that they don’t want “overmaintenance”. As it turned out, all this toiling overnight has nothing to do with some unfortunate natural disaster but a mess resulting from their so called “balance” between cost and reliability.
When I posted the above video on YouTube, I quickly got more than a thousand views. When it was announced that the target for resumption of service on 30th September would not be met because of “new cracks” being found, I quickly followed up with the following video.
Guess what. I’m not even getting more than 50 views. Train service resumed on 2 October 2024 and everybody seemed to have forgotten all about the breakdown. And that’s in spite of the huge crowds on other lines due to the withdrawal of bridging services, fewer trains in service on the affected line and the spillover effect on the other lines. All of a sudden people don’t seem to be concerned anymore. Are Singaporeans so forgiving, forgetful or too busy to think and register? Will people even care if their MPs ask questions in Parliament?