In the
following news release, “Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for
Service”, Land Transport Authority (LTA) (2016) addresses the problems it faces
in regards to the trains produced by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and CSR
Sifang. It also stated the actions taken to resolve the problems and how trains
were subjected to tests to ensure their safeness and integrity. The article
mentions one episode whereby the train’s “battery housing” flew open due to
pressure. It also mentioned the cracks that were found on the “draughtscreen”
of 5 trains are due to faults during the installation process. However,
operations of train services were not affected as these problems were rectified
immediately. LTA stated that ‘hairline cracks’ were also found on the car-body
shell were caused during the production period. As it is impossible to repair
the cracks, affected trains under warranty were sent back for replacement of
parts at no cost. With a view to complete the rectification programme, LTA
expresses that it will send two trains at a time for servicing. Nevertheless,
this is dependent on the arrival of new trains along with the current ones
which are undergoing re-signalling. In my opinion, even though LTA
addresses the problems and their efforts in getting the job done quickly,
however it should have addressed the problem regarding the issue being in the
current media and online discussion.
In the article by LTA (2016) [1], a
large number of trains had to be sent back for rectification works. In the news
release, LTA (2014) [2] announced that a contract to deliver 91 trains for the
Thomson and Eastern Region Lines will be awarded to “Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
Ltd/CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
Consortium.” Also, in another news release [3], Christopher.T. stated that the
first hairline crack was discovered in 2013 and the first train sent back was
after the contract being awarded. This meant that despite knowing the trains
having defects, the authority still believed in the manufacturers and hence
awarding them the contract. In that news article [3], it was said that the
contracts were awarded to them as they took the initiative to be accountable
for the issue. Also, the offer had the best “price, quality and life cycle
cost”. As one of the concern was the issue being in the spotlight in offline
and online media, the fact that the new trains will be manufactured by the same
contractors can cause doubts regarding its reliability among the people. Hence,
LTA should have mentioned these reasons beforehand which could have prevented
this from happening.
Furthermore, in reference to Channel
News Asia [4], it mentioned that the people only found out about the issue after
a news media based in Hong Kong reported about the trains being ‘secretly’ sent
back to China for repair. Although the claims might not be the entire truth,
the public who mainly relies on public transportation only found out about the
issue from a third party might be misunderstood. Transport Minister Mr Khaw was
quoted saying, the issue did not go public as it is not a major problem and if
there are any safety issues, they would have gone public immediately. However,
in my opinion, despite not having any safety issues, people would have want to
know of the problem as most of the population relies on these trains as a mean
of transportation every day.
In conclusion, LTA should have
reported the issue to the public as soon as the information were ready so that
the public would not have to hear from a third party. This would prevent the
issue to be in the spotlight of the media and online discussions.
[1] LTA News Releases. (2016)Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=0f8b1220-0289-4bef-99c9-b2455f17a66c#_ftn1
[2] LTA News Releases. (2014) Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/Csr Qingdao Sifang
Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium Awarded
Prestigious Contract Worth $749 Million Retrieved September 24, 2016,
from https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=f0b205a6-69ab-49b0-b94d-65384ee5e5c0
[3] Christopher,T. (2016). Hairline cracks in 26 MRT
trains made in China. The Straits Times.
Retrieved September 24, 2016 from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/hairline-cracks-in-26-mrt-trains-made-in-china
[4] Kenneth.L. (2016). Going public
on train cracks could have caused undue panic: Khaw. The Straits Times. Retrieved
September 24, 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/going-public-on-train/2950576.html
No comments:
Post a Comment