SMRT says it is On Track towards Excellence in Rail Reliability

The recent spate of service disruptions in January 2014 has drawn public attention to the current state of reliability of SMRT’s train services.  SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek reaffirmed SMRT’s commitment to doing everything possible to improve the reliability of the network. “SMRT takes a serious view of all defects and makes every effort to investigate and address the root cause of every incident to draw out the relevant lessons to avert future occurrences”.

An ageing network, many parts of which are 25 years old, is one of the many underlying reasons for these incidents. This is exacerbated by higher operational loading and inadequate capacity today which has put increased strain on the trains and tracks.  Some of the reasons for delays or disruptions are not within SMRT’s control such as when inclement weather obliges SMRT to restrict train speeds for safety reasons, lightning strikes occasionally affecting the power supply, or commuters having medical-related emergencies on its trains.  Regardless, SMRT CEO said that SMRT takes responsibility for all incidents that occur on the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), the Circle Line and Bukit Panjang LRT.  “We are committed to continually reviewing our systems and procedures to ensure that they are robust and relevant to guard against equipment failure or human error”. 

It is noteworthy that SMRT’s trains run a cumulative distance of more than 1.5 times around the equator, and carry more than two million passengers daily.  To keep its systems running efficiently and with few or no incidents daily requires constant vigilance and dedicated effort.  The following segments will explain the efforts SMRT has put in place to raise performance and reliability standards, specifically:

• Where SMRT stands in relation to other metros worldwide;
• The steady progress SMRT has made over the past two years; and
• The plans that are in place to renew and strengthen the network over the next few years as SMRT drives towards excellence in rail reliability.

Steering Towards Global Excellence

The CoMET Nova Benchmarking Group is a global urban transport community, comprising leading metro operators from about 30 cities in Asia, Europe and America. The group provides a confidential forum for members to share experiences, compare performance, identify best practices, and learn from one another in order for member organisations to improve performance. As a member of the group, SMRT shares its experience in rail operations and maintenance with the global community, and learns from the best practices of others. 

SMRT is consistently among the better operators in terms of international benchmarking of standards, but it can certainly improve to be amongst the best.  Plans are in place to enhance capacity and renew systems, and over the past two years these efforts have borne encouraging results. 

Making Steady progress in reliability standards in the past two years

Following the December 2011 incident, SMRT has invested significant resources to improve train service reliability, particularly in the ageing North-South and East-West Lines. In 2011 and 2012, SMRT had an average of about four incidents every five days. In 2013, the figures dropped to an average of about three incidents every five days. Looking at the more serious delays lasting more than 30 minutes, the numbers are 7 in 2011, 3 in 2012 and 4 in 2013. Despite the challenging start to 2014, SMRT is determined to maintain the momentum of improvements it is making.

Another key performance indicator that is monitored closely is the number of trains withdrawn from service during operation hours as a result of technical faults, as passengers have to be detrained and inconvenienced whenever this happens.

SMRT will do this through a comprehensive range of preventive maintenance measures. Over the past two years, it has completed a number of reliability improvement modifications on its trains, such as the upgrade of KNS train propulsion software to reduce power faults, the replacement of power supply units for KHI train propulsion system and the installation of electronic noise filters to improve the reliability of signalling system. These plans have enabled SMRT to reduce train withdrawals and incidents causing more than five-minute delays.   

Efforts to refurbish a number of components in propulsion, brakes, pneumatic and air-con systems are underway. SMRT also plans to conduct a mid-life upgrade on its fleet of Siemens trains. 

With the progressive completion of these efforts, train reliability on the NSEWL can be expected to continue to improve over the next two years.

At the same time, SMRT and LTA have embarked on a full nationwide change-out of the 188,000 timber sleepers to concrete ones across the NSEWL by 2016, brought forward from the original completion date of 2019 by intensifying the works. The sleeper replacement programme is at the core of the on-going upgrading and renewal of the ageing NSEWL, parts of which are more than 25 years old.

SMRT will soon be starting on works to replace the third-rail system that provides the power to the train system. 

Ensuring a robust rail system for the future

Beyond these maintenance and renewal efforts, SMRT is taking a proactive and holistic approach to strengthen its rail engineering capability through three key areas of Process, Technology and People.

In the area of Process, SMRT is enhancing the way it manages critical rail infrastructure, assets and equipment that affect the safety and reliability of train services. This involves putting in place systems and processes that will allow SMRT to predict systemic failure in a more accurate and timely way. These systems and processes include condition monitoring of critical assets and equipment, predictive maintenance techniques and a tighter integration of data collection devices with analytical tools.  In addition, SMRT is working towards a Publicly Available Specification (PAS55) / ISO-55001 certification, which is a rigorous internationally-recognised standard for management of infrastructural assets. The certification will optimize its life-cycle management approach towards the use of rolling stock and the associated rail systems.

In the area of Technology, SMRT is in close collaboration with industry partners and academia to seek technological solutions that enhance its preventive and predictive maintenance capabilities. SMRT is using new sensor technology to collect data on track and train systems and it has seen early successes in their application.  SMRT intends to build on its sensor and analytical capabilities. For example, the introduction of Linear Variable Differential Transformer sensors on the collector shoes has already enabled it to detect and proactively rectify some third-rail problems.

In the area of People, SMRT has reviewed the head count requirement of its engineers in anticipation of the growing engineering demands needed to support the 2030 Land Transport Master Plan recently announced by the Government. SMRT will be hiring more engineers and technicians over the next few years. SMRT is also developing and implementing an engineering professional competency roadmap to ensure that its workforce acquires the necessary technical competencies, qualifications and skills needed to fulfil the increasingly complex functions of the expanding rail network.

SMRT recently convened a Technical Advisory Panel, comprising of local and international engineering and transport experts, who have had the opportunity to review its existing systems and processes, as well as future plans. The advisory panel has found SMRT’s efforts to improve reliability and safety standards, through this comprehensive approach, to be sound and progressive.

Leaving no stone unturned in achieving excellence in rail reliability

SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek said that SMRT is committed to further improving its operational and service excellence. “We take a zero-defect attitude in our operations and will investigate every incident seriously and leave no stone unturned to improve on rail reliability”.

However, it takes time to design, plan and implement the various system reliability enhancements on the older generations of trains because of the need to continue to support daily operations.  There are also limited engineering hours each night between 1.30am and 4.30am, for SMRT to do its repair works on the tracks.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts and systems, there will inevitably be occasional delays and unexpected disruptions in train services. Under such situations, SMRT seeks the understanding and support of commuters as it strives to recover and rectify the faults as quickly as possible with minimal inconvenience to passengers.  SMRT continues to refine and improve its crisis recovery and contingency plans to deal with all such scenarios.

Providing a safe, reliable and customer-centric travel experience remains the top priority in SMRT.