THE government, through Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, has apologised to commuters of the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit (LRT) line for the inconvenience caused by the disruption of service due to a faulty automated train control (ATC) system.

Wee said – although LRT owner Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is part owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated – he also had to take responsibility, as a member of the government.

He could have just said that he took responsibility as transport minister, albeit in a caretaker capacity.

When disruptions occurred on Singapore’s MRT North-South Line, operated by SMRT Trains Ltd (SMRT), on December 15, 2011, the republic’s transport minister then was out of the country but took to his responsibility as minister to post a statement on his Facebook page, where he announced that there would be a “health check” of Singapore’s train systems.

The minister, Lui Tuck Yew, said that he had directed the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to assemble a team of experts, including from overseas, to help in the review.

The disruptions on December 15 happened during the evening rush hour. Four trains lost traction and stalled on the northbound track between City Hall and Braddell stations.

The Straits Times reported that many commuters waited for up to an hour in the windowless carriage.

A photo of a train door with its window smashed open by a fire extinguisher to let in air was widely circulated on the internet.

Commuters also had to walk through the tunnels to reach the nearest MRT stations and exit.

The LTA and SMRT activated their emergency plans in response to the disruption of service.

However, the bus bridging services brought in to transport passengers between the affected stations were unable to accommodate the volume of displaced commuters.

Commuters were also frustrated by inadequate information and the large crowd. Station staff tried their best to alleviate passengers’ transport problems, but they were themselves hampered by limited manpower and information.

Altogether, some 127,000 commuters were affected by the disruption, which lasted five hours.

Two days later, on the morning of December 17, service was again disrupted. Four trains were immobilised along the northbound and southbound tracks, and another train was pre-emptively detrained.

About 94,000 commuters were affected by the ensuing seven-hour disruption, which was relatively better managed, thanks to lessons that SMRT and LTA had learnt from the incident two days prior.

Despite that, the minister readily acknowledged that both incidents were disruptive and poorly managed, causing “a significant amount of frustration and distress to commuters, especially passengers in stalled trains who were put in a position of great duress.”

In Parliament, the minister said: “For the disruption to have happened on December15, and again on December17, was clearly unacceptable to Singaporeans.”

During the same parliamentary session, the minister announced that a committee of inquiry (COI) to investigate the incidents had been convened on December 29.

The committee comprised three capable and experienced members, chosen for their legal, operational and technical expertise.

Under its terms of reference, the committee conducted an independent investigation into both technical and non-technical aspects of the incidents.

It investigated the sequence of events leading to the disruptions, as well as established the technical, systematic and other causes that had contributed to the disruptions.

Based on the findings, the committee made recommendations to minimise the recurrence of similar incidents, as well as improve management should any occur in future.

The full report of the proceedings, findings and recommendations was duly submitted upon completion of the investigation, and made public.

Will the Malaysian public get to see the establishment of a similar committee or a special task force, such as the one convened to investigate allegations made by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in his memoirs, “My Story: Justice in The Wilderness”, and the report made public?

By the way, following the December 15 incident, the SMRT CEO then called for a press conference where she apologised for disruption.

An online news source quoted her as saying that she would consider resigning if necessary, but would reserve her opinion on the matter for the time being.

She was commenting on public calls for her and other senior management to resign.

Three weeks later, the SMRT chairman announced that the CEO had resigned. – November 10, 2022.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.