LTA assesses SMRT’s readiness to respond to train service disruptions

SINGAPORE : Train operator SMRT’s readiness to respond to a service disruption was put to the test on Thursday in an exercise carried out by the Land Transport Authority.

’Exercise Greyhound’ was based on the scenario where a six—hour disruption was triggered by a broken rail on the East—West Line. Train services at Clementi, Dover, Buona Vista, Commonwealth and Queenstown stations were affected.

A train near Buona Vista station also stalled and its 600 passengers had to walk on the tracks back to the station. Repair works was estimated to take about three hours, but this was later extended by another three hours before train service can resume.

About 135 personnel including representatives from the Singapore Police Force’s Transport Command (TransCom) participated in the exercise.

During the exercise, SMRT was tested on the way it kept the public informed of the service disruption.

Transport operators, SMRT and SBS Transit were also assessed on arrangements made for free travel on existing public bus services and the operation of bus bridging services.

Train service continued as per normal and commuters were not affected by the exercise.

Mr Chew Hock Yong, LTA’s Chief Executive, said: "Following the last tabletop exercises, LTA and the public transport operators have worked together to further improve emergency preparedness and incident management plans. Today’s exercise allowed us to test the plans and ensure coordinated response across the two public transport operators. We will assess the actions carried out today, and will share with both SMRT and SBS the learning points from the exercise."

SMRT’s Executive Vice President (Trains), Mr Khoo Hean Siang, said: "I am encouraged to see the close collaboration between SMRT staff and all the agencies who have to work closely in such crisis situations. These exercises allow us to fine—tune and validate our incident response plans against any contingencies. Moving forward, we want to also work with community partners to raise public awareness, so that everyone can be better prepared during emergencies."

— CNA/il