Going public on train cracks could have caused undue panic: Khaw
By Kenneth Lim
Posted 12 Jul 2016 16:49
SINGAPORE: Declaring that trains were being returned to China for repairs due to hairline cracks could have caused undue panic, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said at the Bishan Depot on Tuesday (Jul 12).
Mr Khaw said that going public for something that was "not a major event" might have caused unnecessary panic to the layman, noting that to engineers, not all cracks are the same.
"If all cracks are have to be reported when they do not cause any of those safety issues then they have to think about what is the impact on the ground," said Mr Khaw. "Looking back I think it’s understandable. We learn as we go along, sometimes even routine matters can be spun out of control as it happened in this case".
He added that if there was a safety issue, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) would have gone public.
"I think if it was a safety issue, LTA - I’m quite sure will - in consultation with MOT (Ministry of Transport) - will decide to go public immediately," said Mr Khaw. He added that if returning the trains would have affected capacity, MOT and LTA would have gone public to explain why.
LTA Deputy Chief Executive (Infrastructure and Development) Chua Chong Kheng added that any time LTA considers a train a safety threat, it would "never allow the train to go into service".
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