SINGAPORE: The near hour-long statement by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Tuesday (Nov 7) may give SMRT a “temporary reprieve”, but it is unlikely to be enough to quell public frustration and restore confidence in the rail operator, observers told Channel NewsAsia.

In his 39-paragraph ministerial statement delivered in Parliament, Mr Khaw laid out the causes for the unprecedented disruption last month, when heavy rains flooded a tunnel at Bishan MRT station and disabled the North-South Line for more than 20 hours.

He said the ministry would not be convening a Committee of Inquiry (COI) as the cause of the flooding boiled down “to poor maintenance and neglect of duties” by SMRT’s maintenance team.

“The tunnel flooding incident was preventable. It should not have happened,” Mr Khaw reiterated in Parliament.

An internal probe has since uncovered falsification of pump and tank-system maintenance records and on Monday, SMRT announced disciplinary action against six staff along with an inquiry into another seven at managerial level.

Experts disagreed on whether further inquiry into the flooding incident is required.

Mr Khaw’s statement on how a formal public inquiry need not be called may help to defray some fears about the possibility of work lapses being a more systemic problem within SMRT, said Associate Professor Eugene Tan from the Singapore Management University.

“I think the assurance provided by the Government today was to allay concerns that there could be a more systemic rot within SMRT. The minister took the view that this is not the situation, which is why there’s no need for a COI,” the law professor said.

This will act as a “temporary reprieve” for the embattled rail operator though it is “certainly not out of the woods”, noted Assoc Prof Tan, adding that SMRT needs to “raise its game” by showing incremental improvements in order to win back commuters’ confidence.

“Public confidence is still insecure simply because while there has been general improvements in service after the major breakdown in 2011, recent incidents, even if they are few and far between, will certainly give rise to concerns about whether these issues have been properly dealt with,” he said.

“These assurances from the Government will not matter if there is another preventable major disruption.”

MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

Dr Walter Theseira, a transport economist from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, urged SMRT to conduct a far-reaching investigation into whether organisational issues were behind the tunnel-flooding incident.

“I think the real question is whether failures occurred because people were deliberately trying to avoid doing the work they were supposed to do, or because given the resources at hand, it was extremely difficult for the responsible parties to actually carry out their work as intended,” he said.

For example, workers might not have enough time to complete their tasks, or they might have been hampered by poor coordination with other groups within the organisation.

“If those other reasons are important factors, then clearly just finding some people and punishing people will not be enough to actually fix the problem,” he added.

“Personally, I believe that the underlying reason is unlikely to be as simple as these individuals just didn’t want to do their work and didn’t do it.”

In addition, the public will not be entirely convinced by the notion that workers caused the anti-flood system to fail, Dr Theseira said.

“Ultimately, isn’t it the management’s job to ensure that the system is robust such that it will be very difficult, if not improbable, for any small group of people to basically cause the whole system to fail?” he asked.

“To me, it’s the management’s job to design the system and the processes in such a way as to reduce the chance of this occurring.”

To that end, Dr Theseira said the public will question “to what extent will senior management actually take responsibility for this”.

While Mr Khaw mentioned that the SMRT board will review the remuneration of its senior management, Dr Theseira noted that it remains unclear “what, if anything, will happen” to them.

“Anybody who works in any organisation, especially complex ones, knows that failures are very rarely attributable to a small group of people,” he added.

“Because it does seem at the moment like as if it is an effort to confine the responsibility to a small group of rogue employees.”

And if indeed the workers were unable to do their jobs because of organisational issues, “singling them out and punishing them is just going to hurt morale”, Dr Theseira said.

“Because other people are going to say … tomorrow something may happen that involves me, I’m going to get blamed, I’m going to lose my job but is it really my fault? Because I cannot do my job given the organisational issues.”

CURRENT FOLLOW-UP MEASURES SATISFACTORY

When it comes to existing follow-up actions, transport analysts welcomed the measures Mr Khaw outlined.

Some of them include the replacement of existing float switches at the Bishan storm water sump pit and the addition of a radar-based sensor system to independently monitor water levels in the pit.

Assistant professor of engineering Zhou Yi from the Singapore Institute of Technology said the new radar-based sensor will complement the float switches as it is a non-contact sensor and is less affected by the condition of the water.

Because of poor maintenance, defects were found in the float switches, he explained. “If the water is full of sludge and debris, the contact sensor might be blocked,” he added.

“If the water float switch indicates the water is low, but if the radar says the water is high, there must be something wrong.”

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng said SMRT’s move to invite a team of experts from the Taipei Metro to do a thorough and independent review of its operations is “positive”.

He pointed out that the Taipei Metro, which has overtaken Hong Kong’s in terms of overall service reliability, was itself severely flooded in 2001 because of Typhoon Nari.

“It took them months to bring back the entire system,” Dr Lee said. “Maybe they have some good experiences to share.”

Despite that, Dr Theseira said such an inquiry might be “more independent if it was commissioned directly by LTA (Land Transport Authority) or the Ministry of Transport”.

“When you say that you’re bringing in a group of outside experts to evaluate the situation, to me it’s really about what are their terms of reference, who brings them in, what is their relationship actually to the organisation,” he said.

Assoc Prof Tan reckoned that there may be a need for LTA to implement “stronger and more demanding” audits and checks if SMRT remains inept in making sure maintenance works are carried out properly.

“You can talk about bringing in a foreign operator with a better track record but I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” he said. “If SMRT is unable to self-regulate and get its act together, then the ball falls on LTA’s court to make sure that SMRT can get the job done.”

STAKES RAISED FOR BOTH SMRT AND GOVERNMENT

Apart from SMRT, the unprecedented disruption last month has also raised the stakes for the Government given how its push towards a car-lite society is underpinned by a reliable public transport system, according to Assoc Prof Tan.

“Here we are talking about moving towards a car-lite society and investing heavily in our public transport system but this seems to be becoming one of the biggest issues that the Government needs to deal with in the short term.”

“It really is the poisoned chalice,” he said, referring to the phrase some observers used to describe the job of the Transport Minister a few years back. “One would say that the chalice remains poisoned and the poison may have increased in concentration.”

And such persistent MRT delays and breakdowns may put a dent on the Government’s “performance legitimacy” given its track record in resolving hot-button issues such as immigration and housing, noted Assoc Prof Tan.

“After the 2011 General Election, issues like immigration and public housing, seem to have been managed fairly alright. Now, it’s all about the MRT, which has seen a large amount of public funds gone into improving the system.

“The Government has always prided itself on being able to deal with hot-button issues so it has to deliver come next general election. While the election will not turn on this particular issue, it could take away the performance legitimacy that the Government has always prided itself on,” Assoc Prof Tan told Channel NewsAsia.

SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan spoke at length in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 7) about the MRT tunnel flooding incident which occurred along the North-South Line, disrupting train services for about 20 hours on Oct 7 and 8.

In his ministerial statement, Mr Khaw gave details about what exactly happened and the scale of the problem. Here’s a timeline of events: 

SATURDAY, OCT 7

5.14pm: An “alert” SMRT train captain Choo Ah Heng reports flooding on the southbound tunnel tracks between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations. 

5.27pm: The station manager at Braddell MRT reports the same issue on northbound tracks. 

5.30pm: SMRT’s Operations Control Centre (OCC) suspends train services between Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh MRT stations in both directions. 

5.38pm: SMRT reports that water at the deepest section of the track had risen to a level that almost meets the electrified third rail. The system is designed such that the power would automatically be cut off if water levels rise past the third rail. 

5.50pm: Train services are suspended between Marina South Pier and Newton MRT stations in both directions in an unrelated incident, when Mr Choo Ah Heng – the same train captain who reported the flooding – spots a small fire at the trackside between Raffles Place and Marina Bay MRT stations. SMRT later says the Singapore Civil Defence Force was activated within minutes to Marina Bay. However, the fire had died out by itself, SMRT says.

6.05pm: SMRT announces on Twitter that train services in both directions between 13 stations from Ang Mo Kio to Marina South Pier are suspended.

7.32pm: SMRT gives first confirmation that the NSL train services were disrupted due to “water in the tunnel from Bishan to Braddell MRT stations”.

“The SMRT OCC staff did the right thing and handled the difficult situation well. Chief controller, Mr Tan Kwong Chye, took the decision to detrain the commuters and cut off the traction power to the affected tracks between Bishan and Braddell soon after receiving the first reports of flooding,” said Mr Khaw in Parliament on Tuesday. 

“Train service controller, Mr Tan Ming Hui, single-handedly managed both incidents at Bishan and Marina South Pier, ensuring that train services north of Ang Mo Kio continued to run.”

9.22pm: Train services between Newton and Marina South Pier are restored.

10.45pm: SMRT says train services from Newton to Ang Mo Kio stations in both directions are not available till end of service on Saturday. It says engineers will carry out network-wide tunnel checks throughout the night.

SUNDAY, OCT 8

8.32am: SMRT says work to clear water in the tunnels between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations is still in progress and the effort requires more time.

10.09am: The water between Braddell and Bishan MRT stations is “almost cleared” thanks to overnight efforts from teams from the SCDF, PUB, Land Transport Authority and SMRT.

11.06am: Flood waters are cleared to a safe level. 

1.36pm: Train services fully resume, after safety and operational tests and checks to the tracks are complete.

1.52pm: SMRT announces that train services in both directions between Newton and Ang Mo Kio MRT stations resumed at 1.50pm.

5.07pm: LTA’s preliminary investigations reveal that a water pumping system malfunction resulted in flooding between Bishan and Braddell stations.

MONDAY, OCT 16

6.30pm: SMRT’s maintenance team has “failed us”, says Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan at a press conference to address the incident. He reveals that the Land Transport Authority and SMRT had, in fact, on Sep 29, made a decision to replace the pumps. 

“So we are late by a few days. Had they proceeded to replace (the pumps) this thing might not even have happened,” Mr Khaw said. 

SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek also apologises to commuters affected by the Oct 7 disruption. 

He adds that he takes full responsibility for the incident. 

SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming adds that the leader of the team in charge of anti-flooding maintenance was removed, and the bonuses of the team’s members will be affected. 

TUESDAY, OCT 31

5.45pm: SMRT investigations show that maintenance works for the Bishan portal sump pump system were not properly carried out since December last year. 

Maintenance records were signed off and submitted, but the public transport operator’s probe showed there were no track access approvals issued. Pump records for the same dates show that the pumps were not activated on those days, SMRT says.

8.40pm: LTA says it is “deeply concerned” about the suspected falsification of maintenance records, adding that it is carrying out a full investigation into the incident.

MONDAY, NOV 6

2.19pm: SMRT says six staff members – including a manager, an engineering supervisor and four crew members from the Building and Facilities Maintenance group – will face disciplinary proceedings. It adds that an inquiry is being conducted against seven other managerial staff, including two executives at the vice-president level. All of them have been suspended.

6.30pm: In a written parliamentary reply, Mr Khaw says there is no evidence of shortcomings in regulatory oversight by LTA or his ministry. 

TUESDAY, NOV 7

1.17pm: Mr Khaw delivers a ministerial statement in Parliament, where he details the reasons behind the incident, along with the punishments meted out and ensuing steps taken by authorities. 

He revealed that besides Bishan, some water pump systems at Kembangan and Lavender “were not in serviceable condition”.

As for the Oct 7 flooding incident, there will not be a Committee of Inquiry as the facts “are not complicated” and the cause of the incident “is clear”.

“The SMRT team responsible for maintaining the Bishan storm water sump pit had neglected their duties, falsified records and failed us,” he told the House.

SINGAPORE: The morale of SMRT staff, the transport operator’s compensation and penalty practices, and its working culture were thrown into the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 7) as Members of Parliament sought to understand the underlying problems behind a flood in the North-South Line tunnel last month.

More than 10 Members of Parliament raised points about what is being done to maintain morale among staff, whether those who work hard to keep the trains running are rewarded for their efforts, and questioned a “shaming and blaming” culture.

They were responding to a ministerial statement by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on the flooding that disabled the North-South Line for more than 20 hours on Oct 7.

Mr Khaw spoke at length about the incident, which affected more than a quarter of a million commuters. He said the flooding, which happened when water got into a section of the tunnel from Bishan to Braddell MRT stations during a heavy downpour, was preventable.

Based on SMRT’s findings, “it appears that the Bishan flood protection system had not been maintained for many months”, said Mr Khaw, adding that maintenance records that were signed off on and submitted may have been falsified, as there were no corresponding logs for track access and pump activation needed for maintenance.

SMRT had earlier announced disciplinary action against six staff along with an inquiry into another seven at managerial level.

NEED TO KEEP STAFF MORALE HIGH EVEN IN MIDST OF AUDITS AND INVESTIGATIONS

MP for Nee Soon GRC Lee Bee Wah was among those who raised the issue of staff morale.

“We are quite worried about the morale of the existing staff. Because once you have (an) audit, you are trying to investigate, the morale of the staff will be affected,” she said. She asked if the MOT or SMRT is looking into how pride in their jobs can be instilled in staff.

She also asked how those who work hard will be rewarded, given that there has been talk about punishment and taking away bonuses. Touching on the same point, MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Christopher de Souza said that where milestones are met by workers “slogging it out, working their guts out in the tunnels”, they should be rewarded financially.

“Every 500 hours without injury is a milestone. Every 10,000 kilometres without a breakdown is a milestone. Recognise it within the corporation,” he said. He also suggested that the remuneration of SMRT management should be pegged to the company’s reliability.

Mr de Souza also questioned the maintenance lapse by SMRT, given that it is a “line monopolist, and should be able to focus corporate energy on operational reliability.” Hence, he suggested that the fine model for regulating rail transport operators be revamped.

POSITIVE CULTURE IMPORTANT TO RETAIN GOOD STAFF

MP for Jalan Besar GRC Denise Phua said that there is a need to balance the need for accountability versus the perceived intolerance for mistakes and even blaming, should things go wrong.

“That could lead to a lot of fear in the workplace and in fact makes the culture even more negative,” she said. Touching on the same point, MP for Jurong GRC Tan Wu Meng said it is very important that staff always feel comfortable highlighting problems to higher management, especially if the problem cannot be solved at their own level.

“It is important that management continues to want to know what the problems are, to try and fix them, rather than engage in a culture of shaming and blaming, which we know doesn’t work in aviation and healthcare,” he said.

He suggested that the technology used to improve audit of corporate finance should be used to help the Human Resources team, and help workers look for blind spots in their work processes.

MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Melvin Yong, who was speaking as the executive secretary of the National Transport Workers’ Union, expressed his hope that rail workers, and maintenance workers in particular, will continue to be supported by the Government.

“They work in a challenging environment and under very tight time constraints, about three hours every night is the amount of time that they have, he said.

KHAW ACKNOWLEDGES CHALLENGES

In responding to MPs’ points, Mr Khaw agreed that staff morale is crucial. Describing the process as a “multi-year war”, he noted that there will inevitably be disappointments, defeats and some losses. “If each time something disappointing happens, and everybody is onto the troop or general, or calling for a switch of the general, this is a sure strategy for failure,” he said.

Mr Khaw also spoke about SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek, noting that he has been working very hard to change the work culture in SMRT.

He also shared a “little secret” about him: that Mr Kuek had volunteered for the job as SMRT CEO. “He wasn’t parachuted in or was asked to go fix this,” he said. “As the former chief of defence force, I know his heart is in the right place.”

“He is proud to be a Singaporean, and we all felt ashamed by this: every now and then, disruptions in SMRT. We really feel embarrassed, for a long time.”

Mr Khaw also called on Members of Parliament to help influence their residents’ feedback. “Particularly for those with residents living in the North … how they can respond to each disruption, and the more you can explain the difficulty of the re-signalling, the more you can explain to them that the better days are really coming,” he said.

In response to a question on track design and building up the system’s resilience, he drew comparison between Singapore’s system and those in London and New York.

The two cities catered for many side tracks so trains can be moved to other tracks, enabling the lines to run for 24 hours, he said, adding that that is how a well-designed network ought to be. He said Singapore does not have that luxury because “we just don’t have the land”.

Giving context to the time the most heavily-used lines were built, he said that 30 years ago, the Government was “short of cash”, and took a long time to think about whether the lines should be built.

“That’s why when the Land Transport Authority designed the North-South, East-West Lines, we really stinged,” he said. There was only one depot in Bishan servicing the two lines, when such lines would have needed three to four depots, he said. It would be hard to retrofit the lines now, he added.

A 30-YEAR-OLD TRAIN SYSTEM IS “VERY CHALLENGING”: KHAW

In his round-up speech, Mr Khaw pointed out that a 30-year-old train system is a “very challenging” one, and asked commuters to bear with them. Recounting a conversation he had with Hong Kong’s train operator, Mr Khaw noted that as some of their lines will soon reach 30 years, they are looking at Singapore’s experience very carefully.

“Because they know,” he said.

“If you don’t need to worry about the bottom line, then it’s straightforward. Let’s change everything at 20 years,” he added. “But great cost. The Japanese do that, and as a result, very high cost. Are our commuters ready for that?

“These were some of the trade-offs we have to make, and we made it on behalf of Singaporeans,” he said. “With the revenue that we can collect from the people and the limited subsidy we get from the Government, we try to run a show as good as we can.”

In concluding his speech, Mr Khaw said that he “genuinely believes” that significant improvements have been made.

He said: “We do our best. And within the revenue that we can collect from the people, and with the limited subsidy we get from the Government, from the taxpayers, we try to run a show as good as we can.”

SINGAPORE: The Minimum Legal Age (MLA) for the purchase, use, possession, sale and supply of tobacco products will be increased from 18 to 21, said Parliamentary Secretary for Health Amrin Amin on Tuesday (Nov 7).

With the amendment to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Bill, the minimum legal age will be progressively raised over a period of three years to minimise impact on smokers currently between the ages of 18 and 21.

“We plan to raise the MLA to 19 on 1st January 2019, 20 on 1st January 2020 and finally to 21 on 1st January 2021,” said Mr Amrin. “Quitting is a journey and it will take time for smokers to successfully quit. The phased implementation recognises this.”

Earlier he noted that 23 per cent, or about one in 4, Singaporean men still smoke – a figure higher than in Australia (14.5 per cent) and the US (15.6 per cent). Every day, six Singaporeans die prematurely from smoking-related diseases, said Mr Amrin.

He explained that the minimum legal age was being raised for two main reasons – adolescent brains being especially vulnerable to nicotine addiction, and Singaporean data showing that more needs to be done to discourage smoking among the young.

“The younger someone tries smoking, the higher the probability of him becoming a regular smoker,” said Mr Amrin. “Smokers who start earlier also find it harder to quit smoking later in life.”

He added that in Singapore, close to 95 per cent of smokers had their first puff before they turned 21.

“Forty five per cent of smokers became regular smokers between their 18th and 21st birthdays … Among youths below 18, two-thirds of smokers get their tobacco from friends and schoolmates,” Mr Amrin pointed out.

“Raising the MLA to 21 will mean that retailers cannot sell tobacco to youths between their 18th and 21st birthdays, thereby denying such youths and those in their social circles easy access to tobacco.

“We know that social and peer pressure strongly influence youths to start smoking. By raising the MLA, we are further denormalising smoking, particularly for those below 21,” he said.

“This will further reduce opportunities for youths to be tempted to take up smoking before they reach the age of 21.”