12/20/2011

The train breakdown is going to be costly

I have read some of the preliminary reports and comments in the media and I don’t feel a bit good about them. A couple of things have made me very edgy. One is that the inspection technicians are not doing enough. I can see what’s coming next. More staff needed to do more inspections.

The second point is equipment failure and more maintenance. More maintenance and servicing, more frequent change of equipment means more cost. You just cannot have more servicing and maintenance without having more technicians.

See, the current fare hike is definitely not enough. Commuters better prepare for more hikes in fares. And I secretly harbor the thought that if it is a case of mischief, then it may be a once off thing. Apparently it will still end up with more cost. More security equipment and personnel will be needed to conduct security checks, and crews to conduct equipment checks.

And don’t forget the safety equipment like UPS, fire extinguishers, sledgehammers as someone suggested. Or windows will be modified to allow them to be opened in an emergency. And torch lights also.

Whatever the outcome, commuter pockets gonna be burnt a big hole. It is going to be costly to the commuters as the profits must still go up and up.

Fat hope for those who are thinking that there will be fare reduction. Wait till they say they need to send their staff to study how other countries are managing their systems, like going to Japan or Europe, to learn from the best. After 30 years of train operation we don’t have any expert to talk about. What have they been doing all these while? We still need foreign experts who may have worked in a train system for 10 years to come and teach us and tell us what goes wrong and what needs to be done.

What a circus!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sir;

'staff to study how other countries are managing their systems, like going to Japan or Europe'.

Why not Hong Kong and China? You think 'yang gui'(dongyang=Japan) better? The MTR and Trains in China work marvelously and are so cheap!

Anonymous said...

Systemic Failure , and this is just the begining ( of the end ) .... I think lau lee is begining to see it coming .... too bad though , I doubt he will get to see the end of the begining though.... remmeber the idea of MRT was such a revolutionary idea in the begining... he bulldozed the idea through and thanks to his vision, we benefited from it. Now MRT is just like a failing cog in the grand scheme... parallels in life ... no?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi anon 9:38, obviously you have not heard of angmoh tua kee. Look at the number of angmohs heading our institutions, some only worked for a few years while our locals could have double his working experience and even better CVs.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Why would an angmoh who works for 10 years be better than a sinkie who works for 30 years.

Answer: angmoh got superior genes.

Anonymous said...

Red bean , you already answered your own question :

Ang Mo = "Tua Kee" = Tua Liap Nee

Big = good.

We have been brainwashed by western propagada , Big means good , every thing big , you know what I mean, dun be shy

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Don't forget your history. Angmoh founded this island. They are returning to claim their inheritance.

Anonymous said...

Besides angmoh, look around most GLC and institutions are having the remains, i.e. those cannot perform but do extremely well in office politics. Many good ones have already left or been asked to leave in many ways, including tenure ending not renewed. But, those not performing and yet exceed retirement age are still there, year after year, their tenure get renewed. Something has gone very wrong in this country. The only issue is its unaccountable and opaque government.

Heard from some SMRT staff that the COI is just going through motion because no one will tell the truth under OSA. This is the reality of Singapore. Changing government and redrafting constitutions are the only solutions.

Anonymous said...

They say fish rots from the head first. The body will rot later. It is starting for sure. But no one bothers about the rotting fish head, or pretend that it is fine.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Those commuters tweeting or sms about train breakdown got to be careful when terms like hoax and spreading dangerous rumours are being used.

See what's coming next. Don't pray pray.

Anonymous said...

spin spin spin , sink sink sink

Spin Dr at full blast

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Pay lah. Lucky Singapore has plenty of money.

"If a problem can be solved with a cheque it is no loger a problem -- it's an EXPENSE"

Pay, and be done with it.

Anonymous said...

Can deduct from CPF or not ? since we dun get to use it often , huh ? Afterll , just like lobbing off a few digits from a computer screen whattttt....

SPH fan club said...

Folks, please join me in begging them not to increase maintenence, not to send their staff to study how other countries manage their Mrt, in short absolutely not to do anything at all. Just dismiss it as a once in fifty years occurence and move on.

We don't want another fare increase very soon. With the looming economic downtown meltdown, we sure will die one.

Probably, the next arguement they are giving for the fare increase would be, if you wanna trouble free, glide like a dream train ride, pay through your nose!

Oh, we also have to increase the salaries of all those ex DFS "Xpurts" so that they can work harder for you and ensure no more disruptions!

Anonymous said...

Let's face it. MRT train breakdown , costly to repair or not , not important. Think of the potential benefit ! Sinkies still need to eat and drink .. more people will have to seek alternate transport , so car price , COE ,petrol etc can be increased due to pent up demand ie more $$ from the tax payers , more money for sovereign wealth fund to invest for the next and future generations of sinkies. As things stand , office workers are delaying their trip on the MRT , so will have to eat out more often , F+B business will see inrease in domestic demand, dun need to wait for the arrival of the Ah Bing Gor from US Navy.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi SPH fan club, welcome to the blog.

Yes, better beg. Last time beg govt not to help the people. And people should not complain. I think the people still remember the first but forgot the second.

Complain lah. We will give you better service like the taxis. You want better service, better maintenance, etc you just have to pay more. They are accountable to the shareholders mah.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who watched the Blog Tv Programme(Channel News Asia) about the SMRT Breakdowns impressed with a civil engineer and an ex-journalist MP???
Where the hell were the SMRT Representative??? CNA and its' hosts cannot get them???

patriot

Anonymous said...

CEO Saw PH and Transport Minister Lui TY din have the courtesy to free themselves to have a little friendly chat with inhabitants of tis dot regarding the services provided by them.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Very costly indeed...
news.asiaone.com/A1MEDIA/news/12Dec11/others/20111220.170804_6541850855_f31ff2c64a_b.jpg

Anonymous said...

Also in peoples vehicles cars, trucks etc. People can find them for sale almost everywhere buy train horn and even online where many websites provide discounted prices and with a full kit that can be installed.