SMRT Fined $1.9 Million for Pasir Ris Accident & Bishan Flooding

By
George Yang
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Imagine joining a company as its chief executive officer, itching to make a change in a company that hasn’t exactly been sliding into headlines for the right reasons.

And the first thing you see is this: the company is fined $1.9 million.

That’s what the impending CEO of SMRT, former chief of defence force Neo Kian Hong, will face come 1 August 2018.

In April this year, it’s announced that current SMRT chief Desmond Kuek would be making way for Neo Kian Hong two weeks from now.

Neo would face yet another challenge because just yesterday, the Land Transport Authority said that they would be imposing financial penalties of $1.9 million in totality for two incidents: the fatal accident near Pasir Ris MRT Station that caused two deaths in March 2016 and the flooding of Bishan MRT Station in October 2017.

Fatal Accident Near Pasir Ris MRT Station

Two years ago, the nation was shocked to the news of two SMRT Trains trainee who were struck by a train moving at about 60 kmh. Back then, Deputy Public Prosecutor Anandan Bala called it the “worst fatal rail incident to date” by SMRT, and fined the company $0.4 million.

The accident was a result of safety lapses: a 15-member team were sent to investigate a possible signals fault. The assistant engineer had deviated from safety procedures and led the team into the track during traffic hours and without warning incoming train. In addition, he didn’t get the necessary approvals to prevent trains from moving into the track where the team was, all due to a lack of miscommunication.

Other team members in the group were either not on the track or managed to jump off the track in time onto the walkway.

Both the engineer and the train driver were fired. Two people, the director of control operations and the engineer, were also charged.

SMRT took full responsibility and reviewed its safety protocols and procedures after that.

Bishan MRT Station Flooding

About 1.5 year later, another preventable incident occurred.

On 7 October 2017 and 8 October 2017, the Bishan stormwater sump pit and its pumping system did not work as expected, leading to a flood in the tunnel near Bishan MRT Station after a heavy rain. The incident left the train services between Ang Mo Kio MRT Station and Newton MRT Station inoperative for about 14.5 hours, affecting about 231,000 commuters.

The flood was apparently preventable if the pumps have been serviced, which is part of the SOP, but they were not. Last November, SMRT announced that they had fired eight staff responsible for this incident, and may purse legal action against the individuals.

This participlar incident led to a $1.5 million fine.

So $0.4 million + $1.5 million = $1.9 million

How about the Joo Koon MRT train collision?

Last year November, there was a collision at Joo Koon MRT Station between two trains that caused 29 injuries. However, as the caused of the collision isn’t caused by SMRT but by a software that’s managed by a third party, they’re spared from the responsibility.

SMRT isn’t as rich as you think

So, you think they’ll be able to afford the fine?

Earlier this month, SMRT Trains posted an after-tax loss of $86 million in its latest annual operations review report, primarily due to higher operating expenses.

Its expenses hit $838 million compared to $785 million the year before, and revenue (money that comes in) is at $743 million compared to $791 million the year before.

On the other hand, reliability has improved: the old EW line (green line) trains travelled 13% more before a delay / disruption compared to the previous year, and the Circle Line trains doubled the distance it travelled before hitting a failure.

After all, we haven’t seen any massive breakdown this year so far, right?

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]