MRT breakdown COI: Day 18

Ex-CEO defends maintenance regime at SMRT

Rail operator did not raise its maintenance budgets for 10 years, hearing told

By Christopher Tan, The Straits Times, 11 May 2012

THE Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) yesterday presented data showing SMRT's maintenance budgets had hardly budged in nearly 10 years since 2002 - despite rising ridership, more frequent train runs and ageing assets.

Asked about this at the Committee of Inquiry into last December's train disruptions, former SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa stoutly defended the rail operator's maintenance regime.

She deflected evidence that suggested there were shortcomings that might have led to the two breakdowns. She said SMRT had not only met, but exceeded, maintenance standards set out by rail manufacturers and the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Taking the stand for the first time yesterday, she told the inquiry that the company's capital expenditure on 'mid-life upgrades' had helped to stave off big increases in maintenance cost.

'We spent $143 million for mid-life upgrade of 66 trains, that's why you see maintenance and repair costs coming down,' she said at one point during her five hours on the stand.

When it was pointed out to her later that the upgrading works were mainly limited to the train cabins and air-conditioning units, Ms Saw said parts such as wheels and propulsion systems 'are changed on a regular basis'.

Second Solicitor-General Lionel Yee, representing the AGC, then referred to e-mail sent in October last year by board member Tan Ek Kia - now interim chief executive - and chairman Koh Yong Guan to the management.

Mr Tan had said in the e-mail that he had observed an increase in the frequency and duration of breakdowns. He wanted to know what were the 'past trends and root causes'. Mr Koh had written to ask that management ensure the spate was not symptomatic of something serious, and that the board wanted an update.

Ms Saw said there was no opportunity for that update as the next board meeting was in January, after she had resigned.

Later, inquiry panellist Lim Mong King, a professor at the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, presented figures to show how SMRT's maintenance budget had not kept pace with rise in ridership.

When he cited an SMRT internal report showing a 20 per cent drop in maintenance cost per kilometre operated, Ms Saw said 'that could be wrong numbers' or 'errors in the parameters'.

She said the events that triggered the breakdowns on Dec 15 and 17 were unprecedented. A section of the electrical 'third rail' had collapsed after several support claws became dislodged. She said that SMRT had checked to see if operators elsewhere had faced a similar problem, but was told nothing like that had happened before.

When Prof Lim pointed out that 'third rail' sagging had happened here in 2010 and before 2006, Ms Saw said management was not aware of the seriousness of the events because the dropped claws were reinstated. To that, Prof Lim retorted: 'You knew the risks, and you didn't do enough. You implemented cable ties.'

Questioned about the evening of Dec 15, when the first of two breakdowns occurred, Ms Saw said she was hosting a company event. When it ended, she was told 'the main mayhem was over'. She said after her staff had fixed the faults, they wanted to shut down the North-South line for the whole night to do a thorough check. But she said the LTA wanted service to resume as soon as possible.

The LTA, through its lawyer Andrew Yeo, said SMRT director of rail strategic planning Lui Weng Chee had informed its deputy director Soo Weng Tuck that SMRT could resume operations by 11pm, and that Mr Soo had merely said then it should do so 'as soon as possible'.

Ex-chief Saw lists possible reasons for disruptions
By Christopher Tan, The Straits Times, 11 May 2012

FORMER SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa listed half a dozen possible reasons for the spike in rail disruptions and delays that have plagued commuters since last year.

First, she pointed to the new platform screen doors installed on surface stations to prevent people from falling onto the tracks. 'As with new systems, they did not meet standards.'

She said the doors sometimes opened when they were not precisely aligned with the train doors, and this would cause the trains to stall.

Next, she pointed out that the new trains had bugs, which she said was normal for new equipment.

Also, with the increased train trips because of higher demand, 'we're putting in the oldest trains... some of which had propulsion problems'.

But the biggest cause, she claimed, was the increased train runs to meet the spike in demand.

She said 'packing the system' with two-minute intervals between trains pushed the signalling system 'to the limit'. This meant the trains were running at the minimum safety gap allowed by the ageing system.

And when it rained and the tracks were wet, the trains sometimes skidded, causing them to breach this gap - triggering a safety stop.

The system, Ms Saw said, will then have to be reset before the trains can move again.

'If not for these, we would not have seen an increase in faults,' she told the inquiry yesterday.

Referring to the disruptions on the Circle Line last October, Ms Saw said the system tripped when engineers were 'debugging software'.

'It was a brand-new line, so it wasn't a maintenance issue,' she added.

The former rail chief, now helming food distributor Auric Pacific, would not admit to maintenance being the issue during her five hours on the stand.

Inquiry panellist Lim Mong King of the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University cited some data that suggested otherwise.

Professor Lim said that from 2002 to last year, SMRT's track repair and maintenance budget had risen by only 3 per cent, and that its staff-related cost had increased by only 10 per cent. How did she manage that, the professor asked, when ridership had gone up significantly in recent years?

Ms Saw replied coolly that maintenance budgets were proposed by the maintenance team, and 'we don't allocate... and there is no pre-determined number'.

Asked if she had cut staff strength, she said 'no', but sometimes 'when there's attrition, we did not replace'.

SMRT 'needs more proactive culture'
Panel member says it should go beyond quick fixes and sniff out systemic faults
By Goh Chin Lian, The Straits Times, 11 May 2012

A MEMBER of the Committee of Inquiry yesterday suggested that SMRT adopt a new maintenance culture that goes beyond quick fixes, fighting fires and preventing failures.

Instead, it should be more proactive: analyse why components fail, sniff out systemic problems and even take another look at the design of a system, if necessary, said Professor Lim Mong King of the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

'We can't make any system better than its design in capability. No matter how much maintenance... it's not going to increase reliability because of the limitation there,' he noted.

Prof Lim was addressing SMRT's senior vice-president of engineering and projects, Mr Vincent Tan, who had taken the stand for the second day. He had been in charge of managing the two massive breakdowns in December last year.

Prof Lim dwelt at length on SMRT's attitude towards maintenance, and even apologised at the end of the one-hour session for being long-winded. While he noted that SMRT had strengths in preventive maintenance, he had other serious concerns, like how it cannot simply comply with minimum standards set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

'SMRT must have its own vision to do better,' he said.

Maintenance practices for aircraft and ships have already evolved beyond correcting and preventing failures to ensuring that equipment and systems are reliable.

Such practices include on-site monitoring of the performance of equipment and systems, and using a method that identifies and prioritises components that have a high probability of failing with severe consequences.

One component on his mind were the metal claws that keep the power-supplying 'third rail' in place. They were found dislodged in previous years.

Demonstrating this new analysis method, he said that by his own calculation, the probability of a claw dropping was 0.01 per cent, based on three out of 30,000 claws in the system found dislodged in a month.

Dislodged claws led to severe outcomes: The third rail sagged and disrupted the power supply to the trains in the December breakdowns, damaging trains and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.

So, he asked, why didn't SMRT use this analysis method for the claws?

Mr Tan said he did not know and suggested that the professor ask the other witnesses.

Scratching his forehead, Prof Lim countered: 'You are senior vice-president for engineering and projects, and the vice-president of maintenance reports to you... You are the best person to be asked this question.'

Asked later why the same kind of analysis was not properly done after the first breakdown on Dec 15, Mr Tan said: 'We did some analysis, but maybe not to the extent that you mentioned.'

But he added that since the second breakdown on Dec 17, SMRT has dedicated two senior personnel to study better maintenance and engineering practices, like the one suggested by Prof Lim.

'We recognise the system is ageing. We can't stay as we are. We need to move on... We look outside, what are best practices, even NTU, you can get good ideas,' he said, thanking the professor for his advice.

But on one point, he felt Prof Lim got his facts wrong.

Prof Lim had asked if he was aware that SMRT's maintenance budget had been dropping over the last 10 years, citing an internal investigation report commissioned by SMRT.

Mr Tan said that latest computations shown to him by SMRT interim chief executive officer Tan Ek Kia indicated that maintenance spending kept pace with increasing mileage on the trains, after counting in capital expenditures like upgrading old trains.

SMRT's lawyer Cavinder Bull told the Committee of Inquiry that the interim chief executive is due to take the stand today to elaborate on the figures.

Related

MRT breakdown chaos, COI-Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17