Rolling stock to laughing stock: Why is Singapore’s metro struggling, when Hong Kong’s is a hit?

Breakdowns, floods and a lack of executive accountability. The Lion City’s reputation for efficiency is going down the tube

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Unfortunate souls: Commuters at an MRT station in Singapore. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00am, 21 Oct 2017Updated: 12:28pm, 23 Oct 2017

The public scolding that Singapore’s public transport tsars handed down this week to a handful of rail maintenance workers over a large-scale breakdown is raising questions about where the buck stops in the management of the Lion City’s metro network, as rival Asian metropolises like Hong Kong and Taiwan pull ahead with superior train reliability.

In a rare move, transport minister Khaw Boon Wan on Monday criticised workers in charge of anti-flood measures at the metro operator SMRT Corp, after an October 7 flood in a underground tunnel near the suburban Bishan station caused a near 20-hour disruption to parts of the rail network. It was one of Singapore’s worst ever rail breakdowns.

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A mechanism designed to remove stormwater from the tunnel failed to work because it was poorly maintained.

Khaw said the maintenance team had “failed us”, and urged the metro operator to “nail down who [is] responsible”.

“I look to SMRT to do what is right … something must happen to the staff,” Khaw said.

Khaw’s comments were accompanied by a rebuke by SMRT’s chairman Seah Moon Ming, who said the team members’ bonuses would be affected and that the leader of the maintenance team had been removed.