SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Friday (Jul 20) said that it intends to impose financial penalties totalling S$1.9 million on SMRT for the fatal accident which took place near Pasir Ris station and the flooding incident in the tunnels between Bishan and Braddell stations.
Regarding the Pasir Ris accident, LTA said its investigation found that the SMRT work team failed to comply with operating procedures for access to the tracks during train service hours.
Advertisement"These lapses were further compounded by inadequate supervision of MRT operations at the time of the accident," said LTA, adding that it intended to impose a financial penalty of S$400,000 on SMRT for breach of licence conditions arising from the procedural lapses.
The Mar 22, 2016 accident saw two SMRT trainees killed after being hit by an east-bound train on the railway tracks near Pasir Ris station as they were investigating a possible signalling fault between Tampines and Pasir Ris stations.
The accident also disrupted train services on both bounds of the East-West Line between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations, affecting about 16,500 commuters.
SMRT was also convicted and fined under the Workplace Safety and Healthy Act (WSHA) for failing to take necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of employees at work, said LTA.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"Following the incident, SMRT has carried out a review of its safety structures, processes and compliance, and has also accorded the highest attention and priority to safety," it added.
FLOODING BETWEEN BISHAN AND BRADDELL STATIONS
Meanwhile, LTA said it also intends to impose a financial penalty on SMRT of S$1.5 million for the flooding accident that happened last year from Oct 7 to Oct 8, under Section 19 of the Rapid Transit Systems (RTS) Act.
Investigations by LTA found that SMRT was fully responsible for the incident, as the incident was entirely preventable if the Bishan stormwater sump pit and its pumping system had been properly maintained.
Last year's incident saw flooding in the North-South Line tunnels between Bishan and Braddell stations, which resulted in a cumulative disruption to regular train services of 14.5 hours between Ang Mo Kio and Newton stations.
The incident affected about 231,000 commuters.
SMRT has apologised for the incident and has been open and transparent in reporting the falsification of records, which contributed to the incident, said LTA.
"It has also carried out recovery works and implemented preventive measures at the Bishan stormwater sump pit and other tunnel portal pumping systems, in collaboration with LTA."
SMRT has also further strengthened its maintenance processes and supervisory checks, and also disciplined staff who neglected their duties, it added.
"In assessing the penalty amount for each of the two incidents, LTA has considered all facts and the severity of the incidents," said the authority.
"LTA will also consider any other mitigating facts which the operator may raise as part of the due process for the imposition of the financial penalties," it said, adding the financial penalties collected will go to the Public Transport Fund to help needy families with transport fares.
Meanwhile, the collision at Joo Koon station was "not due to actions by SMRT", said LTA.
Investigations of the Nov 15 incident last year found that the root cause was a software logic issue with the new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system that had not been configured to cater for the failure conditions.
"COMMITTED TO PREVENT FUTURE INCIDENTS"
SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming later released a statement saying that the company has "implemented various measures and adopted Kaizen methodology" in order to strengthen and enhance its systems, processes and staff management.
“We are sorry these incidents occurred. We are committed to doing all we can to prevent future incidents from happening," he said.
He added that SMRT has also been working closely with LTA to improve the reliability, maintainability and safety of the MRT network, as well as to enhance network resilience and robustness.
"In recent months, trains have been running more smoothly, providing better journeys to our commuters," he said.
"SMRT is fully committed to our mission of providing safe, secure and reliable services to commuters."
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