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. The actions taken to resolve the problems and how trains
were subjected to tests to ensure their safeness and integrity were also
mentioned. The article talks about one episode whereby the train’s “battery
housing” flew open due to pressure. It also mentions 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 states that ‘hairline cracks’ were also
found on the car-body shell were caused during the production period. As it was
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 two trains would be sent for servicing at a
time. Nonetheless, this would be 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,
they should have address about the issue being in the spotlight in offline and
online media.
The same news release says
that a large number of trains was sent back for rectification works. In another
news release, (LTA, 2014) announces that the contract for 91 news trains would
be awarded to “Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/CSR Qingdao Sifang Co.
Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium.” Also in
another news release, (C.Tan. 2016) states that the first hairline crack was
discovered in 2013 and the first train sent back was after the contract being
awarded. This would mean that despite knowing the trains having defects, the
authority still believed in the manufacturers and hence awarding them the
contract. In the same news, he also said that the contracts were awarded
to them as they took the initiative to be accountable for the issue and 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 the problem.
Furthermore, in reference
to Channel News Asia, (K.Lim, 2016) mentions 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 could get 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 wanted 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 and his would have
prevented the issue from being in the spotlight in online and offline media.
C.Tan. (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
K.Lim. (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
Land Transport Authority. (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
K.Lim. (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
Land Transport Authority. (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
Land Transport Authority.(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
Hi Camille,
ReplyDeleteI am able to get a good overview of the article by reading the summary. I clearly understand that despite the defects discovered in the train which requires servicing to be done overseas, it did not compromise LTA’s operations. Also, LTA did ensure the safety of the train before using it for operations. In addition, the train defects were not immediately publicised by LTA which led to a “roar” in the social media platform.
There is a relatively good transition from the summary to the reader response. The thesis spoke about your opinion that LTA responded swiftly to the defects, but fail to tackle wisely on the social media platform. The thesis was supported by your references, of the discovery of the defect then to the response by LTA to the defect. However, your paragraphing should be more clear by catogoriesing your different opinions.
Lastly, (1) Defects discovery (2) What LTA did (3) How LTA failed to publicise this news which caused dissatisfaction among people, were all supported by references from reliable news sources.
Best Regards,
Linfeng
Thank you for the comment!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Camille, for your hard work with this essay. You have provided a good summary and an interesting response. What seems to be lacking is more coherence in your development. The thesis seems to indicate that you will be focusing on the various forms of media and how they have reported this incident. But that is not the case. In fact, your thesis seems too vague. There are also numerous language and citation problems in the essay.
ReplyDeleteHere are some examples:
1) 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 that it faces in regards to trains. >>> 'following' not needed
2) ...were also mentioned.
>>> were >>> (The verb tense here is not consistent with that in the first sentence. It is possible to do it this way, but you must be aware)
3) The article talks about one episode whereby the train’s “battery housing” flew open due to pressure. .... >>> (phrasing) The article discusses one episode in which the train’s “battery housing” flew open due to pressure.
4) of 5 trains, >>> ?
5) they should have address >>> (wrong verb form)
6) In another news release, (LTA, 2014) >>> (punctuation / incorrect citation convention)
7) Also in another news release, (C.Tan. 2016) states ... / Furthermore, in reference to Channel News Asia, (K.Lim, 2016)
8) after the contract being awarded. >>> (wrong verb form / clause structure)
9) despite knowing the trains having defects, >>> (wrong verb form)
10) hence awarding them the contract.
11) In the same news, he also said ... >>> who?
12) As one of the concern >>> one of X, X = plural
13) the public who mainly relies on public transportation only found out about the issue from a third party could get misunderstood. >>> (odd sentence structure)
14) 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... >>> (verb tense inconsistency)
15) the information were >>> ?
16) 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 and his would have prevented the issue from being in the spotlight in online and offline media. >>> This is your concluding statement, but it may be a better thesis than the one you have. What is your main focus in this essay? How is the main focus in this last sentence connected to each paragraph?
17) incorrect end-text citation list (not adhering to APA)
Let's work on this.