MRT/LRT News

[ddes]

My thoughts and comments on new lines:

Holland Line:
On paper, the perfect line for the west. It serves the "heartland" of the Jurong West area and potentially, the upcoming town of Tengeh. However, if it doesn't somehow serve Jurong East Central either as an interchange or something a la Tampines EWL/DTL, then it'd be contradictory to the development of the Jurong Lake Region which is why I think the next line has to be necessary, somehow...

Jurong Region Line:
It was brought up the previous time but suddenly shelved when the same lines became Downtown Lines 2, 3 and ERL. It HAS to happen, or not.

Beauty World-Wes Coast spur line:

T7/North Coast Line:
Are they one and the same, or can they compliment each other? I believe the forum is split over this. Personally, I think they can co-exist, but the question is, which one can hold on longer through the decade, or rather, which one presents more economic opportunity and serves more people? And by tenders, the guess is T7. After all, there's little actual demand between Woodlands, Yishun and Punggol to Pasir Ris, but when you compare that to Woodlands, Yishun and Punggol to Bedok/Eunos/Tampines, then it starts to make sense. Playing the devil's advocate, none of the tenders mention what T7 line actually is - we all assume, it's gonna veer 45 degrees northeast, following the route of Ang Mo Kio Ave 3. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's gonna veer 45 degrees southeast...

[deskoh91]

I like what ddes did with T7. That does leave a gap on the northeastern coast though, but considering the new catchment with T7 and NCL combined, I figure it can't be that hard to go two or three stops down to hop onto the line to the north if you live on the northeastern and eastern frontier towns.

There are hints of a Jurong Region Line according to some sources so this is a high potential as well. I believe this system will officially considered a LRT, but it should be speced to be able to span the distance of nearly five MRT stations and handle its resulting catchment. It mystifies me what would that be. Too large for metros with the tight corners, but too little capacity with people movers.

[ddes]

The biggest problem with the JRL is that you just can't have loop routes like what we had at Sengkang, Punggol and Bukit Panjang. Unlike the former two which are grid layouts and the latter, basically a circular layout town, Jurong isn't like that. So I believe that the previous plan was to literally cover the town with tracks and run services, a la Hong Kong's LRT, rather than following strict routes. This no doubt translated to the CCL and DTL infrastructure, particularly at Promenade where the intention was to indeed run services across live track. This would be similar to Japan actually where the Shonan-Shinjuku line is a service/route rather than something physical. I've no doubt this will not go down well with people like seloloving or circleline4 who believe in the "one track for one service/route" thing. Ironically, this could help the economic case for the JRL into NTU during the holidays.

If you've no idea what I'm talking about above, think of it as an elevated bus network.

[y2koh]

The role of HLL in the development of Jurong Lake District may not be apparent based on just simple analysis of the plan. Traffic management plays an equally important role in the development of a hub. The current situation is JUR is that the high MRT based traffic has made the interchange station somewhat of purely infrastructure rather than a destination. The attractiveness of JUR as an interchange station is somewhat diminished compared to other interchanges.

HLL has a triple role to play to serve Jurong lake district. First of all, an interchange at Bt Batok will allow better connectivity to JUR by bringing in commuters served by HLL through NSL, hence increasing the destination based commuter traffic. Secondly, it will also filter out transfer only commuter traffic out of JUR by connecting passengers on JUR-bound NSL to other destinations served by HLL, such as Orchard. This reduces the crowd in JUR and help to boost intangible attractiveness of the Jurong district in general.

Thirdly, the HLL will draw new residents and population to areas around Jurong lake district. The first stage will be intensification, where existing land around HLL stations will see a boost in residential figures, in the next stage it will provide the demand for the development of Tengah New Town. As both residential and commercial developments intensify in the region in tandem, the Jurong regional line will reach the critical mass and size to become a viable medium capacity line.

[Mith252]

Passed by Bishan and spotted some barriers near the flats before the tunnel. Do you guys think it is the new sound barriers?

[Seloloving]

Yes. Tampines and Jurong East will have them at stretches too.

[Mith252]

Nice, thanks for the info.

Anyway, just checked the other site. It seems that Pioneer's fans are operational. I guess it would either be Buona Vista or Bedok next.

[Mith252]

Found this on the FB page for the unofficial East West Line group. It seems that they have been carrying out the replacement of sleepers since the 5th of June. Here is the link to the PDF file.

http://www.smrt.com.sg/Portals/0/PDF...30Sep2012).pdf

Also, on the unofficial Circle Line FB page, they posted a link to a new interactive network map by SMRT.

http://www.smrt.com.sg/Trains/NetworkMap.aspx

[Seloloving]

Nice!! They are finally releasing the maps in high resolution on most of the stations!

lolwut - SMRT got Marina Bay and Bayfront's code wrong.

[Mith252]

Haha, nice!! I guess one needs to feedback to SMRT regarding this.

For the normal passenger, they won't really realise it.

[Seloloving]

Overall, it seems SMRT revamped their site pretty well, probably with help from the SGTs since some features seem inspired from their site.

Now SMRT and SGT should gang up on LTA's site and force them to reboot.

[ddes]

I don't like SMRT's new site. It's too amateurish.

There is far too many useless and redundant information on the site. I don't need a page describing to me what color the North South Line is. As a tourist, all I need is jazzy graphics telling me how to buy a ticket, use the system, and flashy images of popular tourist attractions and their corresponding names and alpha-numeric codes. SMRT feels obligated to promote the venues along the all the stations Circle Line, so I can't see why they can't apply that for that here for every line. I mean, market yourselves, stimulate "local tourism", get people to be convinced to use the system, tell me what's interesting at Khatib, Yew Tee.

Also, address the breakdown and reliability issue in a indirect way. Market to commuters "THE NEW SMRT: COMING SOON" or whatever - detail the new trains, C151A, talk about the signaling system. Maybe with a YouTube video or animation and renders, explain why it's gonna take so long for improvements to be made, and the new upcoming lines too. If you can subtly convince people to think SMRT is Singapore MRT, then you ride on the success of the smoothness of operations of the other two lines operated by SBST.

[Lee480]

O.o

[Mith252]

News regarding LTA/SMRT.

LTA, SMRT to reduce number of trains pulled out of service
Posted: 15 June 2012 1246 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority and train operator SMRT aim to reduce the number of trains pulled out of service on the North-South and East-West lines by 30 per cent next year. This would help to improve the reliability of train service on these two lines.

A team of engineers from both organisations tasked to look into reducing train disruptions said it has observed an upward trend of train delays lasting less than 10 minutes. This is primarily due to trains being withdrawn from service on the North-South and East-West Lines as a result of ageing assets and increased train frequencies.

In 2009, 243 trains were pulled out service. The figure more than doubled to about 529 last year. This means that for every 100,000 kilometre, 3.19 trains were withdrawn last year, compared to 1.65 in 2009.

And, the number seems to be creeping up again this year. In the first four months of this year, there were 234 train withdrawals. This translates to 3.91 trains withdrawn for every 100,000 kilometre.

The withdrawal of train services, especially during peak travel hours, has inconvenienced commuters.

The team found that the majority of train withdrawals were caused by train and signalling system-related faults. The remaining withdrawals were due to passenger-related incidents, such as when foreign objects were caught between train doors.

To address the train and signalling system-related faults, SMRT will refurbish and replace train components related to major sub-systems, such as the propulsion and pneumatic systems. The propulsion system is responsible for moving the train while the pneumatic system controls parts of the trains such as doors and brake systems.

SMRT will also be replacing older electronic cards and related equipment of the signalling system. A fault in an electronic card can disrupt signals sent between the trains and track equipment, leading to a delay or withdrawal of the train from service.

Over the medium and long term, SMRT will step up its maintenance regime. It is placing more emphasis on replacing and renewing its assets, over and above repairing and maintaining them.

This approach will see SMRT stepping up its maintenance capabilities and resources and taking more pro-active actions to preempt failures before they occur.

In the longer term, SMRT said it will carry out more comprehensive mid-life upgrades of the different generations of trains, as well as track-related replacement work in addition to the ongoing review of its maintenance regime.

These measures are expected to improve reliability further.

SMRT's Executive Vice President, Mr Khoo Hean Siang, said: "With the ageing of our system, SMRT is focussing on 'replacing and renewing'. We are committing the resources to ensure that our MRT system functions safely and reliably to cater to commuters.

"We are looking to use technology and tools to improve our analytical capabilities and spot problems before they strike. We are determined to press ahead with the changes we need to make to ensure that our system is one of the world's best metro systems."

LTA Group Director of Vehicle and Transit Licensing, Mr Colin Lim, added: "Together with SMRT, LTA has taken a deeper and systematic look at the recent train delays. The improvement measures will result in a significant reduction in train faults over the coming months. Going forward, we expect to see greater improvements in train service reliability in the medium and long term."

The team of engineers will continue to meet regularly and identify additional measures and other possible sources of improvements to enhance the reliability of the rail network.

-CNA/ac

source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...207755/1/.html

[Mith252]

Some updates on the fans. Looks like they have finished installing the fans for Jurong East, Buona Vista and Commonwealth, just not operational yet.

Lee480, do help to tell the other side about this. Also, you haven't told them that Buona Vista has Titan gates installed and operational. Thanks for the help.

[circleline4]

Here's a video done by LTA showing the installation of fans for those who follow up.



On a separate issue that I chanced upon on Stomp..
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/st..._suddenly.html

[Mith252]

Some news in CNA regarding LTA.

LTA to look at improving acceptance process of MRT infrastructure
By Olivia Siong | Posted: 23 June 2012 1745 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is looking at how it can improve its "acceptance process" of rail systems before putting them into service.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said this is one of the lessons drawn from last year's Circle Line train service disruption.

The acceptance process looks at whether the equipment and installations on new rail structures match LTA's specifications.

Some 27,000 commuters were affected in last September's Circle Line train disruption, which lasted four hours during the morning peak period.

The LTA said on 22 June that the cause was traced to faulty power cables.

Investigations also revealed manufacturing defects on some cables.

LTA will embark on a planned cable replacement programme to change the defective cables for greater MRT service reliability.

Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Saturday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said LTA will look at improving its acceptance test of new rail lines.

He added that authorities took some time to investigate last September's Circle Line breakdown, as some defects are not easy to detect.

"Hopefully we will learn from it to improve on it, to improve on the acceptance process of the system. Before the system is put into operation you do extensive testing, but you also do an acceptance process. So we will need to look at it and see how we can improve on the acceptance.

"But some of these defects, let me tell you, are also not easy to pick up. It is not easy to pick up, which is why, we had to have such a long interval between the September Dakota incident and now the release of the investigation because we had to actually send quite a number of batches of the cables for further testing, in order to be able to identify and determine how extensive some of the defects in the cable are."

Mr Lui also gave an update on the Committee of Inquiry (COI) tasked to look into last December's train disruptions on the North-South line.

More than 200,000 commuters were affected in the two major disruptions, which took place on the December 15 and 17 in 2011.

He said the committee, which completed its hearing on 25 May, is finalising its report.

He added the inquiry has been thorough and comprehensive.

"We have already seen some of the possible recommendations that were talked about even as they went through the process of the COI. I believe they are at the end stage of putting together the report and I will await their submission.

"When the recommendations come out, we will of course study them very carefully, look at what else we need to do to make sure we improve on the maintenance and the reliability of the system.

"It will take time and I think it will be a process where we really need to pay stringent attention to what is being done both within SMRT and in time to come what is also done in SBS Transit."

Mr Lui reiterated that improvements have been made already. This includes establishing the joint LTA and SMRT team to investigate faults and problems.

He said the maintenance philosophy has also been re-looked.

Mr Lui said he expects to receive the committee's report soon.

- CNA/ck

source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...209450/1/.html

[Mith252]

Saw this is asiaone. I guess it is expected. STOMP is just full of crap.

Stomp staff sacked over false 'MRT open door photo'
AsiaOne
Monday, Jun 25, 2012


A photograph of an MRT train moving with one set of its doors open, has been found to be false.

A content producer of Singapore's citizen journalism website Stomp had initially claimed that she took the photograph last week.

23-year-old Samantha Francis claimed that she took the photograph herself at Lakeside MRT station last Tuesday night.

Following investigations by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Ms Francis eventually admitted that she had taken the image from a post on social networking site Twitter.

The original tweet has since been removed.

On discovering this, Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division, sent a letter to Mr Tan Ek Kia, the interim chief executive of rail operator SMRT, apologising for the incident.

Ms Francis was also sacked by SPH, which owns Stomp, on the same day.

Mr Daniel said in his letter to SMRT: 'My team and I would like to apologise unreservedly to SMRT for this erroneous report by one of our staff. We truly regret the damage this has caused SMRT.'

He added: 'Aside from breaching our professional ethics, what she (Ms Francis) has done goes against all the values that we stand for.'

APOLOGY on STOMP

Statement by STOMP Editor, Azhar Kasman

STOMP would like to apologise for the posting on June 20, supposedly showing an SMRT train that left Lakeside station with one set of doors open. The report, submitted by a STOMP content producer, has been found to be fabricated.

The content producer, Ms Samantha Ann Francis, had submitted the photo to STOMP, claiming that she had taken it when she was at Lakeside MRT Station at 10.15pm on June 19.

Following investigations by our staff, Ms Francis has admitted that she had in fact taken the photo off a posting on Twitter. The original tweet has since been removed.

Ms Francis has been dismissed by Singapore Press Holdings, which owns Stomp.

SPH sent a letter yesterday (24/5) to SMRT's interim CEO Tan Ek Kia apologising for the incident.

Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of SPH's English and Malay Newspapers Division, said in the letter: "My team and I would like to apologise unreservedly to SMRT for this erroneous report by one of our staff. We truly regret the damage this has caused SMRT."

He added: "Aside from breaching our professional ethics, what Ms Francis has done goes against all the values that we stand for."

As STOMP editor, I would also like to personally apologise to SMRT and members of the public for this erroneous article in STOMP. I deeply regret that one of our staff breached professional ethics and posted a fabricated report.

I would like to assure the public and all STOMP readers that the website does not tolerate such unethical behaviour.

We will also be reviewing our operating procedures and will do everything we can to prevent such a lapse from recurring.

source: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%...25-355071.html

[Mith252]

Also, some news on the LTA Masterplan.

LTA seeks feedback on Land Transport Masterplan
Posted: 25 June 2012 1612 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is seeking public feedback on its existing and future Land Transport Masterplan.

The plan maps out strategies that will go into formulating the country's transport policies.

The last plan, launched in 2008, saw initiatives such as expanded rail and road networks as well as improved barrier free access to bus and rail stations.

As part of its update, the LTA will gather public views on how the various programmes under the 2008 masterplan can be refined as well as identify new initiatives.

To give feedback, go to this website.
http://talk2lta.lta.gov.sg/ltmp

The portal will host online discussion forums and surveys that the public can participate in.

Detailed information on the scope of the consultation process and the 2008 Masterplan is also available.

Alternatively, members of the public can email the LTA at LTA-LTMP@lta.gov.sg.

The LTA said those who participate stand to win an EZ-Link card worth S$10.

Feedback channels will open till 30 September.

As part of the consultation process, LTA will also carry out a series of focus group discussions, after which views will be consolidated and released with the updated masterplan, which is targeted for 2013.

- CNA/ck

source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...209734/1/.html

[Mith252]

Also, with regards to the jet fans / blowers at Commonwealth and Buona Vista, they are operational. Lee480, help to spread the message.


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