MRT TRAINS

MRT TRAINS: **

(Breakdowns): **

8.

Dr Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many cases of MRT train breakdown and disruption are there in the last three years; (b) what are the common causes; and (c) with 'driverless' trains in operation, whether there are specific risk management steps to be undertaken.

Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: From 2007 to 12 July 2009, there were 92 incidents of MRT service disruption which lasted more than 10 minutes. Of these 92, 30 lasted more than 30 minutes. Twelve of these 30 were caused by people entering the train track area and one was due to a passenger activating the emergency push button. The remaining 17 incidents were caused by equipment-related faults.

To ensure that the MRT system operates safely, reliably and efficiently, the two MRT operators carry out regular preventive maintenance on the systems. The maintenance programme the operators follow is based on the Original Equipment Manufacturers’ manuals, codes of practices and industry standards.

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The driverless trains have the same basic safety features as that for trains operated by drivers. For example, they have an Automatic Train Protection system that ensures trains keep a minimum safety distance between each other, limits the speed of trains to safe levels and ensures that the doors open on the correct side of the trains. In addition, the driverless train systems have additional features for monitoring and fault reporting purposes. The critical systems of the driverless trains are also fully backed up to ensure that the train service can still continue to operate in the event of failure of the primary systems.

Besides the additional features, the interior of the driverless trains can be monitored by officers in the Operation Control Centre (OCC) through the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems. In the event of an incident, the officers in the OCC can assess and take action to address the situation. The operators also typically station a customer service officer (CSO) in each driverless train during peak periods. In event of any system fault, the CSO can provide fast recovery to resume train service and attend to passengers who are in need.

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