SMRT breakdowns are becoming routine

5 breakdowns in 9 days! This is going to be better than in 3rd World countries man. And because of the regularity of train breakdowns, everyone is getting use to this new normal and life goes on. No one seems to be feeling the heat anymore. If this is going to be the trend, in 90 days there will be 50 breakdowns, in 365 days there will be 203 breakdowns. Of course this is only statistically speaking or straight line extrapolation. But it would be useful for people who like to use statistics to attack people, in this case SMRT.
 
It will not be the case. 5 breakdowns in 9 days is just one of those once in 50 year incident. The pain is that it must happen at a time when we are trying to celebrate our 50 years of Independence and being a world class city that prides itself that everything works here, with the flip of a switch. This train thing is going to be a little bit embarrassing, and the bad part, it cannot be swept under the carpet. Every time there is a breakdown thousands of commuters will be affected, businesses will be affected, the economy will be affected.
 
I think they are going to appoint a COI to investigate why breakdowns is a daily affair. Or would they be hunting for a foreign talents around the world to take over the train management? Our local talents are looking like not up to it. Maybe they should bring in a team from Mumbai. They have the experience to do the job. They also go MRT, I think.
 
What is the point of writing this? I think we should not blame the SMRT management. This is what you will get when the system is overloaded, over used. The important point which I think people must learn from these breakdowns is that it is a warning sign, it is telling us what to expect when the population hit 6.9m. This is only the tip of the problem. When the population is 6.9m, imagine what would happen to the train services, the public transport system and other supporting services? Can this island take the stress and strains and demands of a 6.9m population when we are starting to break down with 5.4m?
 
What, 10m also can? Everything will be fine with our superb planning skills and our super talents at work. I just have one comment. Please make sure the system will not fall apart like the SMRT now. If this is going to be the new normal, 6.9m would be a daily nightmare.
 
Believe me, trust me. Or you want to believe the super talents? The breakdowns are a peek into the future on how things would be. Be grateful for the early warning signs. Would the govt take heed.