EWL disruption under investigation by LTA, SMRT & MOT, findings will be released to the public

Expert panel appointed to support LTA’s investigation into 25-30 Sept EWL disruption

Three investigations are looking into the East-West Line (EWL) MRT disruption that inconvenienced commuters for six days from 25 to 30 Sept.

One of them was announced in a news release by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday (2 Oct), which outlined three areas that its probe will cover.

Investigation aims to uncover root cause of EWL disruption

Firstly, LTA will investigate the root cause of how an axle box was dislodged from a train, damaging 1.6km of tracks.

This includes a forensic study into the nature of the axle box failure, as well as the identification of “any other potential contributory factors that led to the incident”.

Secondly, LTA will review the existing fault detection and incident handling procedures to see whether “appropriate actions were taken”.

Measures to improve them, while minimising service disruptions and preventing damage to rail infrastructure, will also be proposed.

Thirdly, the operator’s response will be under the microscope, specifically in terms of timeliness and comprehensiveness.

LTA will thus review its efforts in service recovery and disruption mitigation, focusing on:

• speed of deployment of the bridging bus services
• effectiveness of announcements on the disruption
• clarity of guidance to commuters on alternative travel options
• overall crowd management

Expert Advisory Panel appointed to support investigation

During the investigation, LTA will gather facts, interview staff involved and review records and evidence, it said.

It will also consult an Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) appointed to review the investigation findings and advise on technical matters, LTA said.

The panel will be chaired by Mr Malcolm Dobell, a non-executive director for CPC Systems in the United Kingdom, who was Head of Train Systems for the London Underground and has more than 45 years’ experience railway operation and maintenance.

The other experts on the EAP will be:

• Dr Tony Lee Kar Yun, Operations and Innovation Director at Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation
• Mr Chen Chao, Deputy General Manager (Vehicle Branch) at China’s Shanghai Shentong Metro Group
• Mr Chew Tai Chong, Director and Global Rail Leader at the United Kingdom’s ARUP
• Associate Professor Gan Hiong Yap of the Singapore Institute of Technology, an expert in maintenance engineering
• Professor Manoj Gupta, a Provost’s Chair at the College of Design and Engineering of the National University of Singapore

Investigation into EWL disruption will be completed in a few months

The investigations are expected to be completed “in a few months”, LTA said.

When that happens, the findings will be released to the public.

SMRT committee will review incident

Separately, transport operator SMRT has also convened a committee to review the EWL disruption.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (2 Oct) night, it said this was “in accordance with SMRT’s internal policy”.

The committee will be chaired by Mr Quek Gim Pew, who is an SMRT board member and was Chief Defence Scientist at the Ministry of Defence.

Another board member, Mr Ng Chin Hwee, will be the Deputy Chairman of the committee. He is the former chief executive officer of the SIA Engineering Company.

A number of independent panel members will also sit on the committee.

MOT will also carry out investigation

A third investigation will be carried out by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau, a department within the Ministry of Transport.

This was revealed by Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

It will be an independent safety investigation, he said.

The EWL disruption, one of Singapore’s longest MRT breakdowns, not only affected a large group of commuters but also caused “substantial damage” to rail infrastructure, requiring “extensive repairs”, LTA said.

Normal service resumed on 1 Oct after engineers and technicians worked through the night to replace cracked rail segments and conduct comprehensive safety tests of the track and trackside equipment.

Also read: Was the East-West Line train disruption a bane? Close to half of S’poreans polled say they were severely affected

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Featured image adapted from Singapore Road Accident on Facebook and Chee Hong Tat on Facebook.