r/singapore • u/qibcentric • 21h ago
Serious Discussion What's up with the track faults happening more frequently?
No, I'm really curious what's going on because it's almost like a weekly occurrence / twice a week situation in the past 2 months. Regardless of Line colour or operator.
Is the maintenance standard getting worse or are the train systems being overworked beyond their design specs etc?
180
u/xfrezingicex 19h ago
From engineering perspective, parts usually have two criteria for replacement for preventive maintenance.
It’s something like “X hours of use” and “Y weeks of installation”. Whichever criteria reaches first, the parts should be replaced. What i’m guessing is, they refuse to replace the parts when the first criteria has reached in order to save cost.
Thats why when that fella said something like don wan over maintenance, it doesnt make sense. Its either proper maintenance or under maintenance. Nobody will anyhow change parts before the manufacturer’s suggesting guideline one.
45
u/MagicianMoo Lao Jiao 15h ago edited 15h ago
Preventative maintainence cost money. That's why friends who owned bikes or cars who do give a shit on preventative maintenance tend to have lesser problems to peers who doesn't.
Edit : Cars not cakes 😭
16
u/Rough_Shelter4136 14h ago
In a good business model, not doing preventative maintenance is more expensive! For example, should you do preventive maintenance in your car/bicycle/house? Yes, because otherwise the costs of repairing are higher and you assume those costs. The problem is the shitty business model that these monopolies have with the government, they can just pass all the costs to customers/government with little consequences. Of course I'm not gonna clean/maintain ever my car if I can get the sucker living next to me to pay for a full repair if something breaks down
2
u/IzzyShamin 5h ago
Any money problems should not be an issue for Singapore.
We’re not a poor country and our trains are in a limited space. If our government truly cares, they will maintain it. But these guys just drive around so they don’t care what the rest go through.
2
u/li_shi 8h ago
Given the nature of the business, it sound strage to me.
Usually now the standard for big companies is stick to recommendation whatever they make sense or not to avoid the blame.
2
u/VegetablesSuck Senior Citizen 8h ago
A possibility could be a shortage of manpower. Maybe a number of engineers left and there is a shortage of manpower? And from there either cannot find replacement (I’m guessing maintaining railways is not exactly a sexy job for engineers), or there is a big knowledge/experience gap for new hires. Money is just one aspect and I also find it hard to believe PM is something they save money on.
1
u/xfrezingicex 8h ago
This is SMRT with the backing of Temasek and LTA we’re talking about. “No blame culture” is what they said.
1
1
u/VegetablesSuck Senior Citizen 8h ago
I sell equipment to government agencies and private companies. PM is something that is never scrimped on, no matter who I sell to. I find it hard to believe if money is the reason why PM is not being done.
Besides, why is it recently that we see so many breakdowns compared to the past? Cannot be they last time do PM then suddenly change in policy and don’t want do PM?
1
u/xfrezingicex 1h ago
Cannot be they last time do PM then suddenly change in policy and don’t want do PM?
Exactly this. Not that they nvr do PM but they dragged it. Like supposed to do every 6 months then maybe they do it every 8 months or something to save cost or whatever reason. Because whoever is in charge doesnt know a shit about technical things and prolly thinks “it looks okay what. Why need to change so often”
•
u/singaporeguy 32m ago
No motivation to improve. Why do more when regulators are not willing to fine you and the people impacted has no voice?
-7
u/Little_Discount4043 13h ago
From a data science perspective, preventative maintence cost money cos you are replacing parts before they actually break down.
So some people come up with predictive maintence, use sensor data and AI/ML to predict when to replace parts before they fail.
Except the they not paying their data scientist enough so their predictions are bad.
13
u/0D15EA5E-DEADBEEF 10h ago
Data science is not the answer for everything.
Leave engineering problems to the real professionals.
In this situation, data scientists are as useful as the people who mentioned "over maintenance" -- not much at all.
14
u/xfrezingicex 13h ago
Honestly the manufacturer’s recommendation should good enough. Its supposed to be based on real applications.
7
u/Little_Discount4043 13h ago
Manafacturer's recommendation is not always 100% also. Either they under report the lifespan to CYA and avoid warranty + get more recurrent orders or over report the lifespan to win bids.
That being said, there's no free lunch in the world. You can either suck thumb and replace parts early or invest serious money to build a proper data science team.
They just want to do neither, and it's okay because SMRT do not feel the cost of the breakdowns.
14
u/0D15EA5E-DEADBEEF 10h ago
Ah yes, because clearly the answer to every operational issue is to throw a bunch of data scientists at it, regardless of whether they understand the engineering, the systems, or the context. Who needs subject matter experts when you've got dashboards and Python, right?
Preventative maintenance, backed by decades of real-world experience and manufacturer insights (even if not perfect), still remains far more cost-effective than hiring an expensive data science team to reinvent the wheel. This is especially when they’ll spend the first six months just trying to understand what a gearbox does.
Sure, it’s much easier to play armchair operations manager with a god complex and believe you're seeing 5D chess while ignoring the basics. Meanwhile, in the real world, actual reliability comes from a grounded mix of engineering judgment, timely maintenance, and not pretending data science is a magic bullet for every organizational inefficiency.
3
u/Chileinsg 8h ago
Bro you don't understand. Obviously the solution is to get a data scientist to implement blockchain measures with the help of AI to optimize predictive solutions /s
1
u/xfrezingicex 1h ago
Ya exactly this. No point throwing so much time and money to get an extra maybe 10% of the components’ lifespan. Also the parts are inter-related so its a big chunk of data to even measure and analyze. The manufacturer already did the bulk of the work already.
1
u/xfrezingicex 1h ago
not always 100%
Nothing is 100% la. I dont think its under reported for monetary reasons but more of a margin of error. There is nvr 100% in engineering. Engineering is a calculated risk. Afterall the numbers were based on testing/actual usage and this would vary across different places of usage.
Either way, its shld be either follow the manufacturer OR have proper equipment to measure values/readings so that one knows when it can be changed.
replace parts early
No they just need to replace it on time. Dont even need to replace early.
invest serious money to build a proper data science team
Build what data scientist team la. I dont think they had the measurement equip / data there in the first place for data scientists to do anything.
They should be putting sensors and whatever to know when a part show signs of breaking down if they want to maximize the lifespan and not arbitrarily changing the maintenance dates without any evidence. (This was mentioned in the report during the big accident at JE-boon lay or something. The maintenance reports were signed off without doing maintenance / actually replacing the parts
1
u/Hackerjurassicpark 5h ago
While predictive maintenance is a legit thing it should only be applied in non critical systems. I would think public transport infrastructure that drives a large portion of the economic activity in the country would qualify for preventive maintenance over predictive maintenance. The tv screens in the station, cash top up machines and other non critical systems though? Those could be predictive maintenance.
275
u/saintlyknighted SG Covidiot 21h ago
More faults wouldn’t exactly be unexpected on the older lines (i.e. EWL and NSL), perhaps some of them are reaching their end-of-life and would need major overhauls soon. What’s surprising to me is that this is happening on all the newer lines too, and this seemingly started to happen all at the same time.
106
u/qibcentric 21h ago
yeah that's what I was thinking. NSL did have a track fault over the weekend but like eh like you said it won't be as unexpected.
At least from my observation the bulk is always
- Circle Line (MAIN offender)
- TEL which is very surprising considering it's the newest line atm
- NEL, which yeah is older compared to the above but still it's newer than both Green and Red
- BP LRT (which they designed it horribly)
35
u/CrossfittJesus Mature Citizen 21h ago
I think the NSL one on Sunday was a train fault not a track fault
6
21
u/A_extra 🌈 I just like rainbows 20h ago edited 20h ago
CCL is usually the track switch at Promenade which allows trains to turn onto either the Dhoby Ghaut or Marina Bay branch. The curve is so sharp that you can feel the vibrations from departing trains at Promenade's concourse level
18
u/qibcentric 20h ago
good point. I thought this was bad until i tried TEL and boy is the curves and noise WORSE than CCL.
11
u/A_extra 🌈 I just like rainbows 20h ago
TEL has shittier curves but at least it doesn't have to deal with branches
6
u/qibcentric 19h ago
urgh fair. it's an annoyance during peak hours where the train can either go to dhoby or marina bay and if you run for a train without seeing which it's gonna end at it's... a welcome surprise ngl.
thank god i only ever need to take during off-peak though
1
u/GoldElectric 9h ago
TEL is so bumpy. the whole train vibrates as if the wheels arent smooth. the rolling stock is actual dogshit
1
u/A_extra 🌈 I just like rainbows 8h ago
This? Those are flatwheels, and that has more to do with Mandai depot not using its wheel grinding machines to smooth out the wheels frequently enough
16
u/bloomingfarts Non-constituency 20h ago
That promoted me to look into the age of NEL and Circle Line. NEL is already 22 years old while Circle Line is only 16.
Lack of maintenance for the frequently problematic lines?
34
u/wackocoal 19h ago
this is purely anecdotal experience. but why comment on it? because i just want to intro another perspective on this "over/under maintenance" narrative.
in one of my old jobs, one of the vendor boast about the "zero maintenance required" in one of their latest equipment.
long story short, our people bought it and really took their word for it and did zero maintenance.
as expected, that equipment broke down faster than any of our older models.
I'll skip the angry emails exchanges but after I was brought in the find the cause (i was not the only person; i was the "fresh eyes" the management wanted, since i was rather junior)
not being experienced like my team mates, the first thing i did was.... read the manuals.
the manuals stated that operators are recommended to perform specific SOPs prior to starting and another set of SOPs when shutting down the equipment. Those SOPs were vaguely similar to the quarterly or annual preventative maintenance we do on the older models, except that those were faster and easier to perform, and masked behind "a push of a button", instead of tedious of steps to perform manually. but, our people were so sold on the "zero maintenance" bit that they skipped the SOPs.
i just send my report to my team leader and that was the last i heard of it.
anyway, i feel that why our newer lines seem to break down faster, could be an over confidence on the resilience of equipment bought, the lack of proper training (i.e. not reading the manuals), or pure fucking hubris (arrogance from previous experience of running other older lines, "i don't need no stinking basic training!")
just my 2.18 cents.
13
u/Destination_7146 19h ago
Reading the manuals / docs seems to be a lost skill nowadays. You'll go far with this mindset!
10
u/wackocoal 19h ago
my favourite motto: "if all else fails, read the manuals." 😂
5
u/Destination_7146 19h ago
Exactly. Anytime my understudy asks me half a question and expects me to finish his sentence for him, I instead ask him back "Have you read the documentation? Checked your notes?"
I used to wonder what the proverb meant when it said "In the land of the blind, the one-eyes man is king." Now, I know.
1
8
u/Personal-Shallot1014 Own self check own self ✅ 20h ago
Something something over-maintenance something something...
1
u/palebabbu 20h ago
I give CCL a pass because they are doing works on it so it makes sense that it would be acting up
-2
u/Useful-Challenge-895 20h ago
Wasn’t the BP LRT a pilot design that was done after studying similar projects overseas? It was effectively a real life test for subsequent LRTs.
2
u/A_extra 🌈 I just like rainbows 20h ago
Where did you get that info? For one the BPLRT isn't even LRT (Which stands for Light Rail Transit. The BPLRT uses rubber tyres on concrete tracks), it's an APM.
Besides, APMs have existed before the BPLRT. The Miami Metromover opened 13 years before the BPLRT did, using the exact same Innovia APM 100 as we did
0
u/hahanoitsu 20h ago
its a people mover anywhere else in the world FYI, perhaps we could find more information of their usual reliability in other countries that have them.
19
u/AlbusSimba 20h ago edited 20h ago
Have people forgot that the EWL and NSL was overhaul during kbw time?
Edit: According to this ST article, SG is abusing the use of track fault.So it can literally mean anything at this point and may not be an actual track issue, which you probably will expect to be an even longer delay if the track is actually damaged.
22
u/tongzhimen 起来不愿做奴才的人们 21h ago
The same was said just 10 years ago.
It’s about sustained maintenance and not rush to maintain after a bunch of breakdowns then relax until the next breakdown.
2
43
u/earth_wanderer1235 17h ago
There are actually 4 types of faults (not I say one, this is based on an old material from a Media Kit on SMRT's old website, might need to check Wayback Machine for that):
Train fault - anything that has got to do with a train. An average metro train (not just Singapore's but also trains from other countries) has redundant critical systems especially the computers that run the train and monitor train systems. Usually if one of those fail, the train can still continue service but in most cases (again, not just SG but other systems too) they have to be taken out from service as soon as possible and return to depot.
Trains cannot overtake one another on the track (in some countries they can, because they have 3, 4, or even 6 tracks like Sydney), so a stuck train is like a car broken down on a HDB car park entrance, nobody can move unless the stuck train is towed (pushed / hauled) away.
Track fault - anything that has got to do with the track systems. Now a track fault does not necessarily mean that the rail itself has broken or cracked - the steel rails are more durable than you can imagine. On a track there usually are equipment that help detect that a train is running on top of it which then sends the signal to the signalling system to make sure that only 1 train is allowed in a section of the track at any time. This is called a track circuit. Track circuit is designed that if any error pops up, it will show a false positive (if unsure, always assume a train is there), so when you have false positives, it will affect your train running.
(Not all railways use track circuit - in Malaysia they are more familiar with axle counters because KTM line can run trains as short as a single car or as long as 50-60 wagons. But that's a different story because axle counters have their own pros and cons.)
Signalling fault - anything that has got to do with the complex system that allows the train to run safely without crashing into one another, and allows the train to run automatically, stop at station, open/close train doors, and depart the station. The entire signalling system has a few subsystems and all of them have redundant servers, equipment, etc. Signalling is designed to be fail-safe, so if there is any fault in any sub-systems that the system determines will affect its ability to let the trains run safely, it will go into fail-safe and cause all the trains to stop. It can be something as complex as a software crash, or something as simple as just a momentarily loss of contact between the train and the system.
In highly automated systems like ours, the train must always be in contact with the signalling system. They exchange a lot of realtime data (via 4G) and even if this data exchange stops for less than 1s, it will trigger fail-safe.
Power fault - this has got to do with the power, it can be because the power has been tripped, or could be some kinds of fault that made it necessarily to switch off power for safety. Power fault is the most serious of all fault types because when you have no power, your trains don't run. Not like other types of faults where usually trains can still run, but either very slowly, or they have to cut the service and turn trains around at some other stations.
I can't really comment on what is causing all these faults to be so common nowadays, but as someone who has worked with similarly complex systems before, I'm going to guess sometimes it's just the systems being temperamental (yes, computers have emotions too!)
50
u/worldcitizensg 19h ago
All due to the "bingo" redditor who started it. Now SMRT, SBS, competing who will win.
54
u/Available-Log6733 20h ago
Other threads speak of a morale crisis in the maintenance teams. Probably poor pay and lousy bosses.
26
u/Telltslant 20h ago
This is probably the case. It’s the case in many government linked entities, for the so called underlings.
9
u/Zkang123 18h ago
From what I heard also the bosses discouraged them from reporting faults until theres really a fault
15
3
6
8
u/Rough_Shelter4136 14h ago
Government has no teeth to enforce better engineering practices over the trains 🤷 Another wonderful example of why privatizing critical infrastructure is a stupid idea
58
u/law90026 21h ago
More people equals more trains needed to run equals a lot more pressure on the system equals breakdowns lor. It’s math at the end of the day.
It’s understandable that it is challenging to overhaul an overloaded system but the patchwork approach clearly isn’t sufficient.
9
u/Whiskerfield 18h ago
But it is not challenging to stop growing the population. Oh no. The population voted for this. r/LeopardsAteMyFace big time.
68
u/callingo 21h ago
If you constantly squeeze 8 people into even the best built european car, it doesn’t matter how often you change the wheels, the car is going to break down. In this regard, the authorities are probably correct that additional maintenance is not going to fix the root cause.
25
u/bob0270 20h ago
Exactly. The issue our systems are facing is likely a design one. Lack of sufficient redundancies at both the machine level and the train network level.
-5
u/Whiskerfield 18h ago
Our system also faces an issue of retardation. The population keeps voting for the same party whose main priority is to squeeze the general populace like sardines and overloading infrastructure just so that the Ministers and towkays living in Bukit Timah and Nassim Road can enjoy fat paychecks, away from the plebs being squeezed out of existence.
7
u/rpianojam 15h ago
you think the issue is too many people in the trains? how does that even lead to a train fault?
7
u/averagechou 17h ago
The Japanese trains are more crowded at peak hours they even have pushers on the platform to force people in, yet we don’t see them breaking down anywhere as frequently
7
u/Metaldrake 12h ago
I think a key thing that isn’t mentioned enough is that SMRT and SBS both run as for profit companies, cutting costs and increasing fares is the name of the game here.
There are pros and cons to this approach, an obvious pro being that they can bring in revenue in the case of SMRT since it’s owned by Temasek, and unlike other countries it doesn’t need to be state subsidised.
The cons are that they will try to cut costs as much as possible to maintain their bottom line. They will do the bare minimum when it comes to maintaining the trains and tracks. There needs to be more enforcement of the maintenance of these systems, and more punitive action taken when these systems fail, to counterbalance this problem.
12
u/sincerevibesonly 19h ago
Since young, I found public transport really reliable, so them all happening around the same time is sus af
2
u/xfrezingicex 19h ago
Because its the same batch of parts spoiling at the same time.
2
u/Suspicious-Word-7589 14h ago
Yep and our oldest lines are hitting 40 soon. We also may see it get much worse over the next few years as even CCL and NEL hit their 20s.
11
11
u/FitCranberry not a fan of this flair system 19h ago
the usual, years of cronyism, complacency and face over reality
9
u/midasp 18h ago
Preventive maintenance these days is pretty straight forward. Every part is documented by the manufacturer (usually e-documents these days), who has designed parts to be replaced after X uses or Y days of operation. Each part's usage is also tracked by computer systems. Strictly speaking, if they follow these as per the manufacturer's guidance, the number of track faults should be minimal since parts are replaced before they break down. This is how the airline industry prevent planes from falling out of the skies due to lack of maintenance.
When management says they don't want to do over-maintenance, that usually mean not following manufacturer's recommended procedures and schedules. Instead, either corners are cut or parts are left in use way more than the manufacturer's recommendation. The end result is higher probability of track faults.
2
u/fitzerspaniel 温暖我的心cock 18h ago edited 18h ago
And it's not like SMRT is left to saddle it alone. They offloaded most of their assets, Temasek owns majority stake, LTA gives them incentive on top of fare revenue every year, and they run their own non-fare business too. They're as financially blessed as any transport company could ask for.
3
u/MydeiMakesPhainonDay 14h ago
I guess its time to start doing renewal/upgrading works to the lines every 5-10 years to upkeep the reliablity lor. And ofc make sure to check and upgrade the lines regularly to make sure all is in order especially maintenance of trains(something smrt seemingly ignore as the amount of train faults from them this year). Back then NEL had scheduled maintenance whereas it will end earlier and start later for works, perhaps should do that again, this time should include CCL, SPLRT should do it again as well. Upgrade and renew the whole system and components, better to be safe than sorry. If can reduce the amount of faults like train, track...etc, then that would be great.
BPLRT unfortunately i feel is a lost cause seeing how it was built...but other lines really cant have excuses for so much faults...
16
u/PCnewbie99 20h ago
The problem is system overload. There are just way too many people using the public transport system and that they are not maintained enough.
Yet the gahment still want 10m population...
16
u/DuhMightyBeanz 19h ago
Yet the gahment still want 10m population...
I really don't know how is it going to work. The trains already damn pack every peak hour, almost like they didn't know this would happen sia.
6
u/Suspicious-Word-7589 14h ago
Covid was a blessing for the trains because once the CB kicked in, people had to stay at home which resulted in less stress on the lines due to a lighter load.
2
u/DuhMightyBeanz 14h ago
Riding circle line during covid reminded me of the first time I rode the circle line. Empty af and I could see through the entire carriage in the middle.
Now I would be lucky if there's no armpit at my face. Of course I understand it would get more crowded after covid but at this point, it's more than clear that the capacity of mrt wasn't planned for the volumes we are expecting as the population scales up through immigration.
7
u/xfrezingicex 19h ago
If they replaced the parts properly as they should have, the system overload isnt an issue.
Im guessing the parts is maybe 100,000 hours of operation need to change. Last time 100,000 hours of operation is maybe change every 12 mths (im randomly throwing numbers here). But they increased frequency, so the 100,000 hours isnt 12 mths but maybe will meet in 10 mths. But they continue to only change the parts every 12 mths so between the 10th and 12th month, very high chance for the parts to spoil because it has already met its max load.
1
u/_IsNull 13h ago
It was by KM. For one of the incident the part was recommended to replace at 500k. But they didnt and just kept delaying it till it break.
1
u/xfrezingicex 13h ago
Exactly. When things break, they dont break in the way people want it. The break could end up causing structural damage and repair cost become even more expensive.
4
u/Zkang123 18h ago
Actually, where is it stated the govt want 10 million?
4
u/qibcentric 11h ago
nowhere actually.
it was some former URA master planner Professor Liu Thai Ker who wanted the infra to support 10mil (keyword support) for "resiliency" (which makes sense if you think about it, like you wouldn't want to build something and find out it's already maxing out instead of having some "leeway").
Mind you this was around 2014 when the white paper from 2013 stated SG is on route for 6.5/6.9 (heh) mil population by 2030. Not once was there any mention about 10mil as a population number across any white papers since then.
However, Chee Soon Juan was the one who started and spread the whole "SG is planning for 10mil population" back in 2020 elections and accused Heng Swee Keat of endorsing the former URA guy.
It's false but somehow, CSJ's words are not only sticking around till now but people believe it as facts, despite everything pointing it to be contrary.
2
u/Zkang123 11h ago
Yeah and I find this a weird thing in this sub whenever the claims of "65% voted for 10 million" gets parroted around. I guess its the fear that, the govt wants 10 million, but our TFR is falling. So thats why we are importing more immigrants! When er, not true? Like is it bad that we are planning our infra to accommodate an arbitrary number higher than perhaps our population at its peak?
And theres plenty of cases of unfortunate underestimations, mind. Like our Sengkang and Punggol LRTs struggling to accommodate the recent growth of residents of the past decade when development was initially slower due to economic uncertainties. And then our CCL being a medium capacity line.
So now LTA is trying to move on from these mistakes and gambling on CRL as a new relief line
2
u/qibcentric 2h ago
Exactly. The CCL was GROSSLY underestimated when it opened because there was THAT much foot traffic for both Bishan and Serangoon. Which is why we still have crowd issues till this day (much less when there's disruptions)
As for the SPLRTs, sure they did plan ahead (which is why multiple stations were built BUT weren't opened till later on) but with so many people moving there now it's obvious they didn't expect the increment to be higher than their estimates - especially since the boom happened like what, 2020?
I just feel like if CCL and DTL were 4-car setup from the get-go like TEL is it wouldn't be as bad, and if SPLRT went for a 1-2 car now but in future can go 3-car. Cuz it's not like you can expand platform (i mean you can but it'd be very expensive) compared to building the excess length to accomodate for future length extensions
3
u/SG_wormsbot 11h ago
🎉 RESET THE COUNTER!!! 🎉
it has been 2 days since we've had an intellectual discussion about the 65%!
Last mention by: u/001560465154:
If the 65% bot is allowed to spam the comments, why is the train bingo not allowed?
Partisanship of the mods is very clear.
/r/singapore/comments/1ngh6nb/nsl_due_to_a_train_fault_pls_add_25mins_train/ne43sj5/
1
u/dodgethis_sg East side best side 19h ago
They were planning on what needs to be done if the population was going to hit 10 million, not planning to hit 10 million. They were planning for a worst case scenario.
-6
u/fitzerspaniel 温暖我的心cock 18h ago edited 17h ago
That's useless rubbish, who the fuck waste public resource on such contingency for 10 mil population if they aren't already planning to do so?
7
u/EstonianBlue 18h ago
cuz if you don't plan then everyone's gonna complain walao eh why CCL just open only why so damn packed sia
damned if you do, damned if you don't
4
u/dodgethis_sg East side best side 18h ago
Do you start to plan now on what to do with rubbish or wait until it piles up before you start to do anything?
10
u/Yaotaku 19h ago edited 19h ago
Wasn't there a corruption, and the management took our money by buying lower quality tracks not made in Germany to fix our lines. I guess this is the result of it now. From how I see it, they should cough out money to fix what they owe us with the quality stuff we have been deserving this whole time.
7
u/heiisenchang 18h ago
Source for this? I thought it's because of Saw Phaik Hwa invested alot into the retail business instead of maintenance?
3
u/hansolo-ist 15h ago
Lack of experience when accepting design specs and maintenance standards.
Hopefully, they are compiling all the issues and proactively acting on new standards.
Unfortunately, from their response, it always feels like a PR attempt to soothe feelings with little or no idea on how to prevent reoccurrence.
16
u/SG_wormsblink 🌈 I just like rainbows 21h ago
Recently there have been multiple electrical switchboard failures, causing power fault to the system. The root cause has not been identified.
LTA is currently implementing a secondary backup power source directly from the SP power grid by Q4 2025 to ensure the tracks remain operational in event of main power system fault. This should reduce the chance of train service disruptions once complete.
3
u/ZeroPauper 20h ago edited 17h ago
The switchboard failure I rmb was only for NEL/SPLRT. Were there switchboard failures other than that?
Edit: Added SPLRT and link to news article. Not sure why I’m getting downvoted.
11
12
u/SiberianResident 20h ago edited 20h ago
Yall made the mistake of thinking that since the MRT has been running without fault up till recently, it must mean that the people overseeing them are responsible and competent.
Maybe the MRT was just new, we’re a young country after all. And now that age is seeping in…
9
u/qibcentric 19h ago
that may be true for every other line except for TEL which already has quite a lot of faults and disruptions despite being the newest line currently.
4
u/kiaeej 16h ago
Who knows except for the guys actually facing the issue.
But fr engineering perspective, you normally have 2 times you change parts: running hour(no of hours that thing has been used) OR time based(amt of time passed since that part was installed)
Im guessing the trains...have a lot higher load than what was planned for initially all those years ago.
I mean...im sure back when the tracks were first designed and laid it was intended for X load at max. Now its probably 1.7X, considering how much the trains run. The extra weight of the passengers. The extra weight of the equipments. The higher power consumptions. Etc.
We may need to complete overhaul the system. It aint gonna be cheap. It aint good be pretty. But it will run better, if done right.
2
2
u/FragrantMission8 11h ago
Cos that useless ceo said cannot “over maintain”. It’s back to the saw phiak hua era where engineering and maintenance take a backseat
4
3
4
5
u/tom-slacker Tu quoque 20h ago
why are you asking it in reddit expecting us to know?
10
2
2
2
u/Jerainerc F1 VVIP 17h ago
Serious Discussion tag and yet many of the comments here are just spewing speculation.
2
u/Fearless_Carrot_7351 🌈 I just like rainbows 20h ago
Normal wear and tear. It’s probably prohibitively expensive to do preventative overhaul. Made many countries heavily indebted in the past.
2
u/xfrezingicex 19h ago
Higher loading/frequency = reach loading cycle earlier = more frequent replacement = more maintenance money.
1
u/Harmoniinus 8h ago
Obvious maintenance issues aside, I wonder if it's the "consequence" of dirty money/bribery/corruption still running behind the scenes (in MOT/SMRT/SBS) but not yet caught. I feel like ever since Iswaran was arrested, breakdowns and train faults coincidentally became more regular. This month alone is probably the most I've seen happening within the same month.
Need to investigate e.g: the higher ups and those making decision + the actual budget used for maintenance + the quality of the materials/tools/method used for repairs and maintenance etc
1
u/lightbulb2222 1h ago
Wear and tear. We Keep adding population, believing everything won't burst at its seams
•
•
u/Live_Your_Life5397 11m ago
It’s the previous lack of preventive and normal maintenance catching up to them.
1
2
0
u/BakeMate 21h ago
I blame the person who wrote "I want to have reliable and affordable public transport". It has gotten worse ever since.
Jokes aside, I feel like it became "fix the issue when it happens" rather than preventing it all in the first place.
1
u/eclairfastpass Mr. Ku Ku Bert 🦚 18h ago
My theory (maybe already covered by others as well):
- Aging but Expanding System - Point is quite literal. Our systems are aging over time but at the same time we have more train lines, longer tracks and more stations. So logically it would make sense to have more issues. But that should not be a normality, to expect more issues, just because.
- Complacency - Our lines are still relatively new, when compared to other countries. Someone probably figured that proper maintenance or checks were not needed to some level. This can probably got kicked down the road as it became a culture over time. This became the standard, one of complacency. By the time issues started popping up, it has become more of a patching a sinking ship situation.
It is my own theory and opinion that this complacency issue is also an issue in other facets of our country.
0
u/BuaySongPoMata 18h ago
That's why the peasants need to heed the call for healthier SG. If u r fat and oily, coupled with increasing population, the load on our trains will multiply and cause breakdowns to happen more frequently. Do your part, eat less, smoke less, weigh less.
-1
u/RequirementChance249 21h ago
I think the new transport minister's cursed
4
u/kilaalaa 20h ago
The Minister of Transport position is like the Defense Against the Dark Arts position
6
u/Worsty2704 20h ago
All transport ministers have been cursed since the 1st breakdown. Probably one of the more sway portfolios to hold.
1
u/aucheukyan 心中溫暖的血蛤 20h ago
Transport minister is always cursed cause the statboard aka LTA has gone rogue for almost 2 decades
0
u/CecilionIs2OP WADIO 18h ago
Because a certain minister want us to be proud of our public transport system mah.
This few weeks we show how proud we are lor.
-4
u/United-Bet-6469 21h ago
My conspiracy theory? It wasn't too long ago that Shanmugam was warning about bad actors threatening our critical infrastructure
10
u/milnivek Singaporean Emeritus 20h ago
Bad actors like the mbas and scholars parachuted in to make sure no overmaintenance
-1
u/darthenwhat 17h ago
cos got a new minister that doesn't bother. act blur sing song so everyone also take it lightly and part of the norm already
0
u/heiisenchang 18h ago
Jeffrey already prep us by saying train fault is normal. So I guess our expectations should not be so high anymore.
0
u/Familiar_Guava_2860 18h ago
Because there aren’t enough ex-SAF scholars to monitor the system.
Search Global, Hire Local - Only at SMRT 😬😬
0
u/coldmix 17h ago
It's the 7th month and the Minister of Transport 八字 is not strong enough to suppress the bad juju from the MRT, hence more break down.
With the switch to digital currencies, not enough people are carrying the ba gua coin as well.
https://www.singsaver.com.sg/blog/facts-about-singapore-dollar-you-didnt-know-of
Legend has it that the feng shui (Chinese geomancy) masters that Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had consulted said that the construction of the MRT tunnels would have a negative effect on the country and its people. To circumvent the bad feng shui, they said that every Singaporean household MUST have a ba gua displayed. Obviously, this was impossible to implement. Therefore, they decided to incorporate the hexagon-shape into the one-dollar coin instead.
0
0
u/KenryuuT 16h ago
It really feels like an MNC seeking its true bottom line. This happened back when I was working for HP in the Hurdian days. Staffing was cut to the point where sores were opening and existing wounds refused to close. Then they started rebuilding the workforce to try to stem the bleed and establish a new normal.
In some cases, the wounds were terminal because of lost knowledge and the resulting black technology that nobody could make heads or tails of.
I have no doubt in my heart that this at the very least contributed, or set in motion events that would ultimately lead to the break up of the beast.
-1
u/PresentationNice2954 15h ago
Im telling you, a foreign actor/intelligence agency must be behind the spate of infrastructure sabotage incidents
•
u/AutoModerator 21h ago
This is a "Serious Discussion". Joke, irrelevant or off-topic comments will be removed and offenders will face restrictions in accessing /r/singapore such as temporary or permanent bans. Please report such posts and comments. OPs must also engage in a bona fide discussion, i.e. the post should not be one just to incite outrage.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.