SMRT

[weijian]

Out of respect for the 2 deceased and their distraught family and friends, we should simply keep all our opinionated (criticism) thoughts and judgements offline, until the official report is out. I appeal to the VB community to observe their moment of silence and have the temperament to resist the temptations to the freedom to post anything at will, simply most of what we do here, wouldn't aid in anyway, to the investigations and closure of this unfortunate incident.

[CityFarmer]

Out of respect for the 2 deceased and their distraught family and friends, we should simply keep all our opinionated (criticism) thoughts and judgements offline, until the official report is out. I appeal to the VB community to observe their moment of silence and have the temperament to resist the temptations to the freedom to post anything at will, simply most of what we do here, wouldn't aid in anyway, to the investigations and closure of this unfortunate incident.

I concur. I closed this thread for half a day (till 5pm today), as a respect to the two deceased, who died on their job.

With Respect,
Moderator

[CityFarmer]

Out of respect for the 2 deceased and their distraught family and friends, we should simply keep all our opinionated (criticism) thoughts and judgements offline, until the official report is out. I appeal to the VB community to observe their moment of silence and have the temperament to resist the temptations to the freedom to post anything at will, simply most of what we do here, wouldn't aid in anyway, to the investigations and closure of this unfortunate incident.

I concur. I closed this thread for half a day (till 5pm today), as a respect to the two deceased, who died on their job.

With Respect,
Moderator

The thread is re-opened. Thank you

Regards
Moderator

[cfa]

SMRT acknowledges lapse in procedure before fatal accident
Before the team is allowed to step on the trackway, it must coordinate with the Signal unit for oncoming trains to be brought to a stop, but this did not take place, SMRT says.

Posted 23 Mar 2016 19:20

SINGAPORE: SMRT has acknowledged a lapse in procedure that happened in the lead up to an accident which killed two of its trainee staff on Tuesday (Mar 22).

The public transport operator said investigations so far have found the following:

At 8.08am yesterday (22 Mar), a signalling condition monitoring device installed along the tracks near Pasir Ris MRT Station registered a warning.

At 10.54am, authorisation was granted for the Permanent Way team and the Signal team to move down from the station platform, cross the track, and access the maintenance walkway in order to proceed to the location of the device.
The 15 members comprised 1 engineer, 5 assistant engineers, 5 technical officers and 4 trainees. Led by an experienced assistant engineer, they moved in a single file along the maintenance walkway (of approximately 0.5 metre width) beside the track toward the device location. They followed the safety procedure of walking in the direction facing oncoming train traffic (please refer to attached visual).

Nasrulhudin and Muhammad Asyraf were following immediately behind the lead assistant engineer.

Before the team is allowed to step back on to the trackway, the following procedure must be carried out: The team must coordinate with the Signal unit at the station for oncoming trains to be brought to a stop and to ensure that no trains enter the affected sector. Our records do not show that this procedure took place.

Pasir Ris MRT station is a terminal station with two platforms. Trains arriving at Pasir Ris can berth at either platform. Trains can cross from one track to the other as they approach the station. In this accident, the train moving in automatic mode was routed to Platform 2. When the train captain saw staff on the track, he immediately applied emergency brakes but was unable to prevent the accident.

The accident took place at 11.08am and was immediately reported to the Operations Control Centre.

SMRT said this is the first time that a fatality involving SMRT staff has happened on the North-South East-West Lines. It has established a team to immediately evaluate all workplace safety procedures and has also instituted mandatory work-team level safety reviews.

- CNA/

[HitandRun]

And here we have, various netizens eagerly participating in their favourite sport of "jumping to conclusions".

Some folks have latched on the the mention of the 50-cm walkway and assume that the train or its overhang will touch the edge of the walkway. In other words, if a person is so careless as to stray slightly out of the walkway, he would have easily been swept away or knock down by the train.

A close observation of the photo posted by Chialc88 will tell us that the likelihood of the above is almost impossible => All the structures beside the junction box would have been crushed... A more reasonable estimate is that there should be a 30/40cm margin of safety beyond the walkway.

[yeokiwi]

From the picture, the team might think that the incoming train was going to the rightmost track(platform 1?) but the train was directed to the left track.
The distance is around 50m from the track diversion to the junction box.

At around 60km/h, the time taken for the train to reach the junction box is around 3 sec.

So, that might explain why the train captain was shocked.

And, 3 sec is too short for the train to e-stop immediately.

Guessing (no proof, no evidence)
The supervisor was at the left of the junction box and the two new trainees were standing on the track looking at the junction box.
The train swerved into the left track and the 2 men did not have enough time to evacuate.

[Behappyalways]

SMRT track accident points to more than one safety lapse
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/tr...fety-lapse

[FA+TA]

On 21/4/16, I received from MyTransport SG app for 2 train disruptions just mere days after Minister of Transport Khaw Boon Wan celebrated a milestone of 100 disruption-free days for the North-South Line (NSL). VB need to install MyTransport SG app as media seldom report the frequent "minor disruptions".

North South line
http://singapore.coconuts.co/2016/04/21/...pted-again

North East line
https://twitter.com/alfredTODAY/status/7...20/video/1

May be double celebration?

[CityFarmer]

The power system, is indeed, the main culprit for all disruptions...

SMRT investigating whether 2 power faults over last 12 hours are related

SINGAPORE — SMRT is investigating whether the two power faults which disrupted train services during evening and morning rush hour commuter travel over the last 12 hours are related.

The latest incident interrupted services on the North-South Line between Kranji and Woodlands stations for around 20 minutes on Tuesday morning (April 26). This followed an unprecedented disruption of train services on four lines on Monday evening as a result of a power trip.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/2nd...ay-morning

[CityFarmer]

Doubt on the SMRT new deal...

Dutch firm in SMRT deal may have money woes
06 May 2016 09:00
By Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent

The Dutch company which transport operator SMRT joined hands with two weeks ago to provide automated shuttle services may be in financial difficulty.

Checks by The Straits Times revealed that 2getthere and its driverless freight-moving unit, Frog, had applied for insolvency in April 2007.

The company, led by Mr Carel van Helsdingen, has since been looking for financial backers.
...
Source: Straits Times