In
the news release “Trains on the North-South and East-West Lines Safe for
Service” (2016) from The Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) website, LTA explains
the faults encountered in its trains on the North-South and East-West lines and
announces that the trains are safe for operations. It all started when Kawasaki
Heavy Industries and CSR Sifang were contracted to supply LTA with 35 trains.
Cracks were found on the draughtscreen of five trains caused by errors during
the installation process. LTA also discovered hairline cracks on 26 of the
trains. After rigorous assessment by LTA, the cracks, which were caused by an
impurity in the car-body bolster material, were found to not have any impact on
the operational safety of the trains. An “independent
third-party assessor, TUV Rheinland,” agreed. LTA then decided that the most
practical way to rectify the defect was by substituting the whole “car-body
shell”. Thus, the affected trains are being shipped back to their manufacturer
for repair works gradually. Out of 26 trains, the car-bodies of five trains
have been changed and the sixth one will be completed soon. In accordance with
the safety guidelines, LTA and TUV Rheinland will conduct continual inspection
to ensure all trains are safe for operation.
However, the lack of information regarding the suppliers and the defects makes the purpose of the article ineffective in enhancing public confidence.
One
reason why the news release is ineffective is because the defects were not
fully explained. LTA’s news release mentions an impurity in the car-body
bolster material but not the severity of it. Tan, a senior transport
correspondent, mentions that the impurities may deteriorate the structural
stability of the trains over time (Tan, 2016). An engineer
concurred with Tan by saying that “impurities in aluminium-alloy is a
catastrophic problem – in any industry”. Even though the results of the tests
conducted by LTA show that the trains are operationally safe, an engineer’s
opinion says otherwise. According to FactWire, a former SMRT worker mentions
that the train’s life span is halved. (FactWire, 2016) Thus, not fully
explaining the extent of the defect may affect the public’s judgement of the
situation. In this case, the engineer’s opinion may cause the article to lose
credibility among the public.
Another reason why the news release is ineffective is because of the
lack of justification of contracting the suppliers. In LTA’s news release,
Kawasaki Heavy Industries and CSR Sifang are only introduced as the suppliers
of the trains and are not mentioned much after. Information such as backgrounds
of the suppliers are not seen in the news release. Onlinecitizen mentions that
Kawasaki Heavy Industries and CSR Sifang were not of the lowest bid and would
end up providing 26 defective trains in 2013 (ONLINECITIZEN, 2016). Also, according to
the Financial Times, CSR Sifang’s bid to supply for Boston’s subway was
eliminated. This was due to Massachusetts transport officials finding that the
“technical, manufacturing and quality” of CSR Sifang’s components cannot be
guaranteed (Vasagar, Mitchell, & Whipp, 2016). The Independent
states that CSR Sifang has a history of issues, such as traction motor issues,
problems with bearings, break failures and more (The
Independent, 2016).
However, the article only mentions the rectifications done by LTA even though
the problem stems from the suppliers of the trains. There is a lack of justification of the
continued supply from the contractors and may not enhance public confidence.
In conclusion, even though the article shows the competency of LTA in
the presence of a fault, it does not acknowledge the root of the problem. As a
public listed company, it should be transparent on why the contractors were awarded
the contract, given their history, and also the first batch of faulty trains.
Being transparent then may enhance the trust and confidence of the public.
References:
FactWire. (2016, July 5). China
manufacturer for MTR secretly recalls 35 SMRT subway trains after cracks found.
Retrieved from FactWire:
https://www.factwire.news/en/MTR-securetly-recall.html
Land
Transport Authority. (2016, July 6). Trains
on the North-South and East-West Lines Safe for Service. Retrieved from
Land Transport Authority:
https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=0f8b1220-0289-4bef-99c9-b2455f17a66c#_ftn1
ONLINECITIZEN.
(2016, July 7). People’s Power
Party’s statement on defective trains from China. Retrieved from The
Online Citizen: http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2016/07/07/peoples-power-partys-statement-on-defective-trains-from-china/
Tan, C.
(2016, July 14). Nothing routine
about MRT cracks. Retrieved from The Straits Times:
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/nothing-routine-about-mrt-cracks
The
Independent. (2016, July 9). Even
China’s own railway operator condemns CSR Sifang. Retrieved from The
Independent:
http://theindependent.sg/even-chinas-own-railway-operator-condemns-csr-sifang/
Vasagar, J.,
Mitchell, T., & Whipp, L. (2016, July 6). Singapore returns faulty trains to China for repair. Retrieved
from Financial Times:
https://www.ft.com/content/3a618d42-4350-11e6-9b66-0712b3873ae1
