SMRT fined for Singapore disruptions

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has handed down a $1.4 million fine to railway operator SMRT for four separate incidents on the North-South and East-West Lines which resulted in service disruptions. </span> <p>LTA says recent investigations showed that the four incidents on the NSEWL, and resulting service disruptions, “had occurred due to SMRT’s failure to comply with the established procedures and processes.”</p><p>The authortity reports that on October 9, 2013 and January 22, 2014 train services on the East-West line were disrupted after a train passed a red signal light, damaging a track point in the process.</p><p>It also says that on January 20, 2014 train services along the North-South line were disrupted when a train stalled between two stations after its on-board battery drained out. LTA alleges that the battery drained out because two circuit breakers on board the train were not closed after routine nightly checks by SMRT.</p><p>The fourth incident, on May 2, 2014, saw northbound train services on one section of the North-South line disrupted due to a traction power fault. LTA alleges this was because of SMRT’s failure to remove a short circuiting clamp, which had been installed for sleeper replacement works that morning.</p><p>Together, those four incidents warranted the fine of 1.6 million Singaporean dollars, or AU$1.4 million.</p><p>LTA also fined operator SBS Transit S$50,000 (roughly AU$40,000) for one incident on the North East Line, where services were disrupted, allegedly due to the tripping of the overhead catenary system traction power supply due to staff error during maintenance work.</p><p>“LTA takes a serious view of these incidents as they were fully preventable if the operators had exercised due diligence and vigilance when carrying out their duties,” LTA group director of public transport Yeo Teck Guan said.</p><p>“Lessons from these incidents have been shared with both operators. At the same time, LTA has tightened its regulatory oversight on operators’ staff training.”</p><p>LTA says it will further tighten oversight on the operators’ training regimes and carry out audits and checks on operators’ training processes.</p><p>“This step-up in regulatory oversight is to ensure operators enhance their processes to learn from incidents and deliver effective training to their staff,” the authority said.</p>