MRT Station Manager Suspended After MRT Leave AMK Station With One Door Open

By
Wilson Xie
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Take a look at this:

Image: Giphy

I’m seriously sorry for using this GIF from Titanic, which at one point was the most expensive film ever made at $200 million, and also the highest grossing film ever up till Avatar in 2010.

I’m sorry because my younger readers probably don’t know this film, for why should they when they have an assembly line of cookie-cutter Marvel films to watch week in week out?

I’m sorry too because this belies my old age.

But my real point is that, there’s actually breeze in this scene; admittedly hard to see given that Leo’s and Kate’s hair were held together by NASA space-faring grade, commercial hair products that can even mend broken relationships.

But yes, there’s breeze.

Like in yesterday’s SMRT’s train ride departing Ang Mo Kio Station.

(Though I’m sure no one was emulating what Jack and Rose were doing)

Train Moves with Cabin Door Open

TODAYonline reported that “Rail operator SMRT has suspended a station manager for allowing a packed train to move off from Ang Mo Kio station with one of its cabin doors open on Monday (March 11) at around 7.30pm.”

Image: Twitter/Hady Matynn

See, there’s breeze to be seen via the hair.

Here’s one vantage point of the incident:

And here’s another:

Image: Screenshot from reddit.com

In both videos, the station manager can be seen physically blocking the open doorway in a crowded train cabin.

The train travelled about 200m before stopping and returning to Ang Mo Kio station where all “passengers disembarked safely,” according to Ms Margaret Teo, Vice President of SMRT Corporate Communications.

In-train announcements telling passengers to hold on to grip-poles were also made during the hair-rowing experience.

Error and Suspension

Initial investigation revealed that the station manager was onboard to rectify a train door fault when he had made an error which allowed for the train to move off with its door open.

Immediately after returning to Ang Mo Kio station, the train was withdrawn from service and the station manager suspended with immediate effect.

Yahoo News shared that “SMRT did not respond to queries on how long the station manager has been with SMRT, or whether disciplinary action would be taken against him.”

According to Straits Times, “an LRT train door opened while it was travelling from Bukit Panjang to Senja, amid a five-hour service disruption” in 2016.

“SMRT said then that the cause could have been a design flaw, and a signalling fault during commuting hours forced SMRT staff to override the driverless Bukit Panjang LRT system and drive the trains manually”, the report added.

MRT And The State of Affairs

In fairness, it is my hope that this incident is thoroughly and rightfully investigated, with fair and measured disciplinary action -not knee-jerk penalties- undertaken in regard to the station manager.

Not to be a jinx though, it does seem that breakdowns have been occurring to a far lesser extent than it did compared to the last few years.

This I have no doubt, corresponds to highly accurate customer satisfaction survey which showed that customer satisfaction “levels with public transport improved in 2018” and was “the highest in more than a decade and up from 7.7 in 2017” according to “a survey released by the Public Transport Council (PTC) on” February 13 this year in this Channel NewsAsia report.

SMRT’s on the right track, I guess?

Image: Tenor

Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:

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Wilson Xie
Email: [email protected]