Claws of Contention

After much hand wringing and a COI investigation, the reason for the MRT breakdowns at the end of last year is still a mystery. But just to be safe, all the existing claws will be replaced by a newer 5th generation design (which already has some recorded failures).

A basic question: Are the claws designed to fall off? were apparently not even asked. It could be that in the event of a fault, it is safer (and cheaper) for the claw to fail. If not damage could be done to both the train and the third rail which would be more costly both in terms of time and money to repair.

In any case, a better solution is to monitor the state of the claws continuously so that if any become misaligned or show signs of breaking off, a rapid response team could be despatched to repair it before the situation becomes worse.

One way to do this is to attach a camera to the trains to take pictures of the claws as the trains travel along the track. Imaging software is sophisticated enough nowadays to be able to detect any potential problems (like misalignment of a claw leading to a potential failure) so that the process can be automated. A human can visually inspect the image of any claw flagged as having a problem for confirmation before taking action.

Another basic question is: How are the track maintenance crews currently deployed to check the tracks? On what basis are they sent to inspect a particular section of the track? The automated system suggested above can come up with a prioritised list of sites at the end of each day based on its analysis of the images. Maintenance crews can thus be more effectively deployed to locations most likely to have potential issues.

With the MRT breakdowns becoming political issues, replacement rather than maintenance will be the default choice of action in a typically Singaporean kiasu manner. What this means is that you the taxpayer will be footing a higher cost and you as a passenger will likely be hit with higher fares.

We need a system of incentives and disincentives to prevent this. Any percentage rise in maintenance cost must result in a similar percentage drop in the salaries of the executives and maintenance personnel. Similarly, to be fair, any percentage drop in maintenance costs (with no increase in breakdowns/disruption of services) will result in an equivalent percentage rise in bonuses for them.

These are just some commonsensical measures that should be implemented as part of the COI's recommendations. I guess we will find out soon enough if the COI is just for show or is serious about actually addressing the issues surrounding the MRT breakdowns.