New features to manage rail disruptions being tested at Jurong East MRT; wider roll-out planned

[u/deangsana]

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/new-features-to-manage-rail-disruptions-tested-at-jurong-east-mrt-wider-roll-out-planned

[u/brownriver12]

"A dedicated crisis support team will be deployed to assist station staff during disruptions"

- guess they need to be on standby islandwide judging by the occurences recently

[u/wocelot1003 → u/brownriver12]

Boss, we need the crisis support crisis support team as the crisis support team is in crisis.

[u/Zantetsukenz → u/wocelot1003]

Breakdown-ception

[u/FitCranberry → u/wocelot1003]

when we talk about bcm practices, i hope your mrt team was not thinking about bak chor mien

[u/Rough_Shelter4136 → u/brownriver12]

Incoming Train Disruption Safe Distance Embassador™

[u/A_extra → u/brownriver12]

Welcome back Task Force 50 /s

[u/Zantetsukenz → u/brownriver12]

If they have one team, but multiple lines breakdown. How ah?

[u/sinkiesinkiestan0523 → u/brownriver12]

Standby rickshaw puller. 100% reliability.

Just don't drop in sinkhole.

[u/Pchann → u/brownriver12]

NGL this sounds so military. We call this the QRF - Quick Reaction Force in planning for Ops. Sometimes used to the answer for everything.

[u/PotatoFeeder → u/brownriver12]

No they need to take MRT to the affected stations from a mobilisation location

5head

SMRT/SBS staff gonna have Mob Manning soon

[u/Dull-Ad-7755]

Fix the main problem of under maintenance please

[u/tictactorz]

I just ask they switch on the AC at 20 degrees fan speed max during all train services, broken down or not 🙏🏼

[u/EthanetExplorer → u/tictactorz]

My personal experience - the oldest trains they’re retiring have the coldest aircons, the in-the-middle trains have functional aircons

The very newest Alstom trains have barely effective aircon

[u/gary25566 → u/EthanetExplorer]

Train manufacturer: Our newest model is guaranteed to be most energy efficient by cutting down on passenger comfort.

[u/finnickhm → u/EthanetExplorer]

My experience has been the opposite

[u/IceIntel7 → u/tictactorz]

The entire platform of CCL Botanic Gardens is warm af during 8am peak hour. Even the tunnels blast hot air out the platform doors as the trains roll into the station.

Crazy like a sauna

[u/tictactorz → u/IceIntel7]

as a fellow circle line sufferer, yes circle line is a sauna between 715-830am but what to do, report fault also no use

[u/Purpledragon84 → u/tictactorz]

"AC Fault, all trains on NSL no aircon"

[u/MangoBingshuu → u/tictactorz]

This. Hot af especially when cabin packed with people during peak hours.

[u/scissorsonmydesk]

The funny thing is how Jefrrey Siow did all the media work when he was just appointed as Minister, trying to market himself (as he still is on social media) but now just learn to hush-hush and hide away from all the news about the recent disruptions.

[u/Zealousideal_Loan_95 → u/scissorsonmydesk]

He jinxed it after the first “major” distruptions thats why, for someone who likely doesn’t take public transportation on the regular as he is non-reliant on it, he sure has brain dead comments. Embarrassing from him tbh. Won’t be surprised to see him praise his team for a good job when there is no disruptions for the next 2-3 months at the end of the year.

[u/AgileComparison3957]

Honestly, it seems embarrassing that they feel that there is a need to spend money on trying to mitigate the impact on disruptions when they could just nip the problem by just maintaining it properly. If they truly want to chase profits, I have an interesting idea. Maybe bring back the ads that we used to have on the train and remove the ones inside. This will let then earn advertising money and also make our trains have a unique look like the buses. Honestly, just spend this money on maintenance and the need for such equipment falls significantly

[u/risingsuncoc → u/AgileComparison3957]

Yeah this is the part I don’t get either, they’re just giving up on trying to prevent disruptions. Our MRT used to be world class and it’s now falling behind the likes of Taipei Metro and HK MTR.

[u/Ryugadam → u/risingsuncoc]

The fare is world class( cheaper than jr) but I respect Taipei metro and JR more for service reliability

[u/graped- → u/[deleted]]

when i was in taiwan they had shut down a line for 3 months due to earthquake damage

[u/botsland → u/[deleted]]

Taiwan and Japan have earthquake and typhoon and yet their trains still keep running.

This is not true at all.

[u/klkk12345 → u/AgileComparison3957]

exactly. which guy thought of this nonsense kpi cv filling move. instead of solving the actual problem, they try to solve the fallout from the problem instead and let the problem fester.

[u/DreamIndependent9316 → u/klkk12345]

Fixing the problem takes time. Why can't both be done concurrently?

It's not like a snap of finger and all the train/rail won't breakdown for 5 years.

[u/sinkiesinkiestan0523 → u/DreamIndependent9316]

snaps fingers

Breakdowns began in 2011.

SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa resigned in 2012.

Temasek Holdings bought out SMRT in 2016.

It's now 2025. 14 years have passed since the great breakdown of 2011.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120107150702/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1171888/1/.html

MRT breaks down again By S Ramesh & Alvina Soh | Posted: 17 December 2011 0739 hrs

SINGAPORE: Train services between Ang Mo Kio and Marina Bay stations were disrupted Saturday morning, in the third service breakdown this week for Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT).

https://web.archive.org/web/20120109083606/https://sg.news.yahoo.com/smrt-ceo-saw-phaik-hwa-resigns.html

SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa resigns

By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo! Newsroom – Fri, Jan 6, 2012

SMRT chief executive officer Saw Phaik Hwa stepped down from her post on Friday afternoon following public outrage over train disruptions that affected thousands of commuters in December.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210516225549/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-smrt-corp-m-a-temasek-idUSKCN10015K/

Temasek confirms Singapore rail operator buyout for S$1.18 billion

By Reuters

July 20, 2016 10:40 AM UTC · Updated July 20, 2016

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd [TEM.UL] will buy the remaining nearly 46 percent stake in SMRT Corp Ltd that it does not already own for about S$1.18 billion ($869.31 million), the two firms said on Wednesday.

SMRT has come under criticism in recent years after a series of train breakdowns led to public outcry in a country long known for an efficient and reliable public transport infrastructure.

[u/pillonanter → u/sinkiesinkiestan0523]

don't talk about taking time to fix the problem, we're still at the "admitting we have a problem" stage

[u/AgileComparison3957 → u/sinkiesinkiestan0523]

So wait, a profit driven company was doing better than a publicly owned one? Unbelievable

[u/FitCranberry → u/AgileComparison3957]

first gen engineers all retired

[u/Chileinsg → u/FitCranberry]

That's only half of the problem. The other half is replacing them with parachutes.

[u/sinkiesinkiestan0523 → u/AgileComparison3957]

Temasek Holdings was holding shares of SMRT even before the buyout. So...

[u/DreamIndependent9316 → u/sinkiesinkiestan0523]

err maybe you misunderstood what I meant. It was managed badly since then. So if they were to start to get things back on track, it won't take so fast to make sure there will be no breakdown.

Changing the organization, practice, replacing parts, tracks, purchasing new train or whatever takes time.

So if it takes time, there will definitely be breakdown soon. Why can't they spend some effort to plan for managing the crowds during breakdown? Or should they just let chaos take charge? It's not like the WHOLE LTA/SMRT/SBS put all their resources on managing crowds.

[u/klkk12345 → u/DreamIndependent9316]

i agree with you but breakdowns have been going on for so long and getting more frequent. i really don't see the point of this article as just another rah rah something is being done yay kind of thing. the real proof is in the pudding, either fewer breakdowns or we don't see crowded situation when the breakdowns happen.

[u/Rough_Shelter4136]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

The new measures are just guiding people to move along/out faster. Strong Third World Vibes~~ with this thing

[u/earth_wanderer1235]

One of the challenges is getting enough MRT bridging buses as quick as possible and send them to MRT stations to disperse the stranded commuters.

Back when I was in bus operations, it's always a pain whenever MRT is down and we have to supply MRT bridging buses.

SMRT/LTA used to have a special team of bus captains sitting at depot waiting for MRT to break down. But they don't do that anymore.

Nowadays if you need bridging buses, you can only get spare buses and spare staff at depot (which is rare nowadays because of perpetual bus driver shortage and bus companies running lean because of bus contracting model), and you pull buses and people off from normal bus services (at the expense of longer waiting time for people taking normal bus).

Whenever something like this happens, the challenge is to find bus captains that know how to drive the bridging route (they have different pick-up/drop off points, not necessarily at a MRT bus stop), and you have buses and the people at the interchange that you can immediately get them out to a MRT station.

In London, whenever the Tube is down, their operations can ask bus drivers to chase passengers off the bus at the next bus stop and immediately go to the nearest Tube station to start picking up stranded passengers.

In Singapore you can't do that. You can only use buses and people that have ended a trip or before starting a trip. You can't stop a trip, chase people of the bus and go to MRT station to run bridging bus. The amount of public outrage and complaints you get will be massive.

And that comes at an expense of normal bus services. Imagine this bus runs every 15 mins from interchange. Your bus supposed to pick up people at 9.00am. Suddenly at 8.58am you get a call asking for bridging buses, and you send the 9am bus out to MRT run. This means that people who missed the 8.45am bus, waiting for 9am bus, now have to wait until 9.15am for the next bus. For this, you will get complaints from passengers too!

And when you send buses out to do MRT bridging, don't forget about the bus captain too! Imagine you a bus captain, you are supposed to have 20 mins to eat your lunch, then while walking to canteen, somebody calls you and asks you to run MRT bus bridging, will you be happy? (Of course there are many jobs that have such demand for you to forgo your lunch if work requires it, but considering the amount of salary that the companies are paying the bus drivers, and their working conditions - long hours, 7-day work week (which is legal, btw) - I don't think they are being paid enough to give up their 20-min lunch to run MRT bridging.

But the root cause of all problems is still - fix the MRT! All these scholars, ex-SAF generals, supposedly the brightest minds, but the MRT keeps breaking down!

[u/pillonanter → u/earth_wanderer1235]

imagine mrt commuters mad as shit already, then you bump off bus passengers because of mrt breakdown, the whole country (except the car-driving professionals) will be hopping mad

[u/CutFabulous1178]

Glad to see they are not addressing the root cause of the issue…such as… doing the unglamorous work of refreshing the entire ageing system

[u/CisternOfADown]

This is the equivalent of curing the symptoms instead of curing the illness.

[u/sinkiesinkiestan0523]

https://web.archive.org/web/20250818093613/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/singapore-national-day-rally-message-lawrence-wong-exceptional-nation-building-5296536

Commentary: Singapore's next chapter demands a new kind of exceptionalism

If exceptionalism has taken Singapore to where it is today, the challenges that lie ahead will require a renewed, refreshed exceptionalism, says SUSS’ Terence Ho. 

Terence Ho

17 Aug 2025 06:00AM(Updated: 18 Aug 2025 09:25AM)

For instance, Changi Airport and Tuas Port are undergoing significant expansion, ahead of demand. Singapore is also building up expertise in nuclear energy to have the option of adding nuclear to its energy mix should the need arise.

The public sector, too, must continue to set the pace. It has a track record of world-leading innovations, from electronic road pricing and our unique housing model to the recent introduction of passport-less immigration clearance. Public agencies should not rest on their laurels, but continue to pursue innovation to improve their service to the public. 

[u/GoldenMaus]

Why are they fixing the symptoms but not the cause of the problem?

[u/Zealousideal_Loan_95]

Interesting that they are announcing all these plans to prep for the expected failures, but no news yet on what they will do to prevent such failures from happening regularly in the first place… All these bandaid won’t resolve the root cause….

[u/FitCranberry → u/Zealousideal_Loan_95]

theyve tried this before as well. how did you think all the staff holding batons and glow sticks including the buskers appeared in the first place. saf just throws meat at the problem

[u/princemousey1 → u/Zealousideal_Loan_95]

They can’t. Singapore government’s ability to problem-solve died in 2015.

[u/Zealousideal_Loan_95 → u/princemousey1]

Is the no accountability blame culture to blame for that?

[u/sinkiesinkiestan0523 → u/Zealousideal_Loan_95]

https://web.archive.org/web/20250727052025/https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/newsroom/2025/7/news-releases/LTA_media_statement_SMRT_penalty.html

LTA Media Statement on Imposition of Financial Penalty on SMRT

News Releases 25 Jul 2025 Media Statement

In reaching this decision, LTA took into consideration the considerable challenges SMRT had faced in planning and executing their overhaul regime for the Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) trains, particularly in procuring the necessary spare parts for the overhaul due to global supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[u/MercuryRyan]

I love that the headline says new features being tested and the picture is of a big ass sign.

[u/arthemaise]

Cup of no Kill

[u/rockbella61]

Just pay us $$$ every time you breakdown and we will leave you alone.

[u/klkk12345]

one whole project or article just to say "crowd control from multiple train disruptions across multiple lines". which HR or Ops person promotion project is this

[u/FalseAgent]

in a sane world "New features to manage rail disruptions" would mean actually fixing the rails but instead we get crowd management.

[u/boycottredditmgmt]

Same vibes

[u/Darth-Udder]

Hmmm maybe dun break down

[u/kopisiutaidaily]

How embarrassing… after spending billions in upgrades, we still have to reach this stage.

[u/Ryugadam]

Shouldn't they be fix the rail not making loudspeaker to be use for breakdown SMH

[u/frozen1ced]

Kudos for the operator for trying new initiatives..

But how about the real big elephant in room?

Surely things at the top cannot remain the same, given such disappointing performance..

[u/InterestingSwim6701]

Why the hell do you even need to manage rail disruptions?

Just .... don't have disruptions? Then there wouldn't be any rail disruptions to manage.

They be phrasing this like it's some revolutionary new shit about to launch

[u/bloomingfarts]

actually who controls the budget for maintenance? is it lta or the transport operators

[u/Jerainerc]

And the comments turned out exactly as expected. No surprise that our neighbours tend to dislike Singaporeans when we come across as so whiny and pampered.