Daily Lessons from Life 15 March 2012 - Train breakdown better managed this time: Lui Tuck Yew

"Train breakdown better managed this time: Lui Tuck Yew - CNA 15 March 2012

SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said Thursday's train breakdown appears to be better managed.

The North East Line train service between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront stations was disrupted on Thursday due to a power supply problem in the tunnel at Outram Park Station.

He said that he had taken the North South Line to Dhoby Ghaut station and there were announcements made informing commuters of the disruption on the North East Line.

This, he said, was in contrast to the major breakdown in December last year, when train operators only made announcements on the affected lines.

Mr Lui was at Dhoby Ghaut station to assess the situation.

Speaking to Channel NewAsia, Mr Lui said although SBS Transit managed to handle the situation in an orderly manner with frequent bridging bus services, commuters were not aware that they could make use of normal bus services which were also free.

Mr Lui said a thorough check will be done on the entire North East Line to ensure that the problem with the connecting cables at the Outram Park station is confined to that stretch.

LTA will also discuss with SMRT and SBS Transit on ways to better manage the crowds at the affected MRT stations."

There is this gigantic political earthquake in China where one of the brightest stars was removed from his position as Communist Party Chief of Chongqing but that can wait when matched against this Singapore national disaster - breakdown of trains.

Lessons for me are:

1. lessons were learned in terms of how to manage and communicate with the thousands of commuters affected;

2. there are still rooms for improvement as pointed out none other than the Transport Minister of Singapore! It is heartening as well as a bit weird to see him on site personally as he should be doing something more important that this. Still, it is a good show by Mr Lui. He is fairly sincere about this hapless situation;

3. snapped cables. What could have caused it? Normal wear and tear? Poor maintenance? Poor materials? Whatever the reasons may be, the power that be must find out the root cause or causes quickly to stop the rode. Otherwise, the systemic issues will come back to haunt it again and again! Just like the subsequent breakdowns of the other train lines run by SMRT a few months back. It took a while to get to the roots of the problems. At least, the system has stabilized since.

As more Mr Bo Xilai's ouster, it will be intriguing to know if it is true that his police chief who helped him in cracking down top to bottom corruption in Chongqing went to the US consulate and asked for political asylum. If so, why would he do that? Is someone in China so powerful that even the police chief of Chongqing has to seek protection from the US government? Interesting beyond intrigue...