PQs from Er Dr Lee Bee Wah on 11th Sep 2017
1. To ask the Minister for Transport
(a) whether LTA is aware of the many complaints regarding real-time updates on the MRT service breakdown for commuters on 28 June 2017;
(b) what is being done to address commuters’ need for timely and accurate information; and
(c) whether LTA monitors the service standards of MRT train operators on the level of public engagement when there is a service breakdown
Answer
Supplementary questions:
1. How is the progress of the re-signalling project?
2. How long more before we can see it stabilising, so that residents would not have to be inconvenienced, especially during peak hours.
3. Last, but not least, can we have more bus services that bring residents to city or work directly, such as Bus 805E, so that when there is a breakdown, at least they do not have to, like a lot of my residents, fight their way to take the shuttle service to go to Khatib MRT and later find out that there is no train service.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Fortunately, for the re-signalling project for North-South Line, I think we are already entering the last leg, the last phase of testing. The progress has been much better than I had originally feared.
The re-signalling project is a very complicated project. I remember during the COS, I shared with the House the feedback that we got from London Underground. They went through similar difficulties when they re-signalled their Jubilee Line. They were the first one who warned us: “expect problems, expect troubles, expect yourself to be public enemy number one.”
I brought their painful experience to this House and have been trying very hard to prepare the ground on all the various things that we may have to go through. Precisely because of the London Underground’s experience, we changed very substantially our
original schedule, as well as approach to doing this re-signalling project. We decided to do a lot more testing during engineering hours before we start launching testing that involves passengers inside the trains. The original plan was actually to start the full testing of North-South Line much earlier than 28 May, which was our final decision. We decided to change it and did a lot more testing during engineering hours when the trains were without passengers.
It was only after we have repeated testing and discovered many of the glitches and fixed them, and were satisfied with the software, before we start launching it to passenger service. Even then, we take a step-by- step approach – trying out, first of all, during the last hour before service ends and after that, during Sundays when the passenger load is a lot lighter. And finally we decided that, “Yes, let’s start doing this full service testing.”
We picked 28 May obviously because of the June holidays. But unfortunately, despite all these preparations, there were still delays. But over time, because of these various efforts that we have put in, the picture is getting better. The system is stabilising. For North- South Line, the number of delays due to re-signalling peaked at about 20. This was in the month of May. It has since declined to only six last month and continues to decline.
I am fairly confident that the original timeline to complete the re-signalling of the North-South Line before year end could even be earlier. I am pushing them to get it out before December, meaning within the next few weeks. We have about 10 weeks left to December. I see no reason why we cannot deliver on this.
The software is stabilising. The new software that we put in since 14 July has been very promising, but there are still a few hardware problems. Some of the equipment which are on the trains are still causing us some difficulties. It is not significant, but nevertheless, they are glitches which we have to fix. Some of the glitches are: the doors are not opening or synchronising with the platform screen doors, or the trains exceed by certain distance when it stops at the station.
I hope Members appreciate the complications of this project because unlike a new line, let us say, Downtown Line 3 where there is also a new signalling system. It is a greenfield project; whereas this one, we are talking about an existing functioning line and we cannot close it down just to do testing. That is why it is so complicated.
A further complication which the Thales engineers have explained is: because this is a 30-year- old system and over the years, we have bought new trains. So, altogether today, we have four different generations of trains running on North-South, East-West Lines. And for the re-signalling, every train has to be completely rewired. Each train is a little bit like a human being; it has its own idiosyncrasies and we need plenty of time to calibrate and re-calibrate. These are the great difficulties that all metros around the world experience when they need to re-signal. But versus the experience of London Underground, honestly, for us who are involved in this project, we thought we have done much, much better than I originally envisaged.
London took one full year before they stabilised. For ours, we started in earnest since 28 May. If we can complete it by the end of November, it would be quite an achievement. But do remember, for East-West Line, we have yet to start full-scale re-
signalling. We have been installing the equipment and doing some testing during engineering hours. I hope the experience that we have picked up on the North-South Line should be able to be put to use when we extend the re-signalling to East-West Line, and that we do not need such a long period to stabilise the East-West Line. But we shall see.
As for bus services during disruptions, I think the honest answer is that a bus system is not as effective as trains during peak hours for the sheer difference in capacity.
One train is equivalent to so many bus-loads of passenger capacity, and every two minutes, there is a new train coming. So, when there is an accumulation of delays, you can imagine we will need tens of thousands of buses to move or to transfer all the train passengers, and it is not easy.
As for the Member’s specific request for direct line bus to CBD, we will take a look. Thank you.
2. To ask the Minister for Home Affairs
(a) whether SCDF’s checks on buildings with non-Class “O” cladding also cover the lifts done under the Lift Upgrading Programme;
(b) for buildings found with non Class “O” cladding, what interim measures are being taken to protect the safety of the occupiers; and
(c) what is the timeline given to these affected buildings to remove the unsafe claddings.
Answer
3. To ask the Minister for Law in the past two years
(a) how many disputes concerning cigarette smoke from neighbouring units drifting into adjacent houses have been referred to the Community Mediation Centres; and
(b) of these conflicts, how many have been resolved and what have been the terms of the resolution
4. To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
(a) what are the factors that influence the rental cost of hawker stalls;
(b) aside from the tender amount, what other criteria determine the success of a tender applicant;
(c) what is being done to keep monthly rentals of hawker stalls more affordable; and
(d) why do Yishun Park Hawker Centre tenderers have to pay at least twice the average bid to get a stall.
Answer
5. To ask the Minister for Defence
(a) what is being done to improve the take-up rate of the SGSecure mobile app apart from making it compulsory for full-time national servicemen (NSFs) to download it;
(b) why are websites not used for the e-learning modules instead of an app; and
(c) whether the Ministry will re-examine its policy for ensuring that NSFs download the app.
Answer
