Monday, November 19, 2012

SMRT - $15 million mistake !

The Circle line is the newest amongst the existing MRT rails and yet it is already suffering from numerous serious breakdown. It is announced that SMRT is changing the faulty power cables to high grade ones. They will be replacing over 1,000 cables over 120 km in length. They blame the problem on deterioration due to water exposure, manufacturing defects and damage during installation. Good grief ! One cause is bad enough, we have almost all the major avoidable causes listed.

Does it means that they are cutting corners and using sub grade cables in the first place?  What sort of project supervision is there? It is not as if Circle line is our first MRT project. Our MRT has been in operation for more than 2 decades. So there should not be any excuse for using sub standard materials nor lack of experience. Besides, we are famous for getting external consultant and expertise. Our close neighbours like HK, Japan and Taiwan all have good experience in mass rapid transport system. SMRT could have tapped on these countries expertise, if despite SMRT 2 decades of experience they still could not handle the project.

Such mistake is unacceptable as it is damn costly!  The replacement cables is estimated to cost around 15 million!

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