It was announced that a total of 35 trains will be added to the present fleet in the next 4 years. 5 arrived in May, but we are not told if they have been put in service. "We are fully committed to expanding the train fleet in order to improve frequencies in order of train arrivals," she chirped to a skeptical public. "You can always take the next train," was no longer politically acceptable.
Teo blamed the manufacturers for the tardy progress in the production line. The world has only a handful of train makers she claimed, naming Siemens (German), Alstom (French) and Bombardier (Canadian). Obviously she hasn't heard of other players like Hyundai-Rotem and the Chinese builders for the Chinese Ministry of Railways (MOR). Incidentally Bombardier's Derby plant is cutting jobs after losing the big Thameslink contract to Siemens - they should be hungry for a Singapore order. Building rolling stock is not exactly rocket science. Has anybody considered our local shipyards who construct engineering behemoths like state of the art floating rigs for deep sea exploration offshore Brazil? In the heydays of the containerisation buildup, many of the trailers and prime-movers for the container port were assembled from components sourced from Fruehauf and other brand names; the formula could be repeated.
Teo gave another excuse for the wait. The bigger fleet will take advantage of the new signaling system which reduces the spacing between trains, scheduled to be ready only by 2016. There will be no shortcut, the period for repentance will not be abbreviated.
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But that is the year on year growth, i.e. third quarter this year compared with third quarter last year etc. The chart is pretty meaningless. Why doesn't ST report in terms of actual GDP figures where we can really see the trend?
ReplyDeleteSMRT Singapore Most Rapid Trains - Coming to you in 2016. Just in time for your votes.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know there are serious efforts put in to improve the current transportation woes. It's not so good to know there is still denial of under-planning (or is it "advance planning" to under-plan?) for years.
ReplyDeleteThe whole issue is simple. Transport plans were made based on a projected population size. Unfortunately, the planners were not aware of the sudden influx of FT and PRs. There is no surprise that the system is unable to cope with the current population. Someone ough to own up the mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe day a person is 'anointed' into the elite admin service, he or she can do no-wrongs.
ReplyDeletePeople who should really be responsible for the current mess had left for some other meaty directorship elsewhere. Not forgetting, they also get to enjoy the generous pension payout at the expense of taxpayers.
There is no need to be accountable because the elites can do no-wrongs remember?
Talking about minister's pay, what happen to the proposed review that was launched immediately after the GEs? Is the review still on? The ballot papers had already been incinerated but still no words on the issue.
ReplyDeleteMinisterial pay etc will be in December. I bet closer to the year end christmas and new year time when everybody is busy having fun, partying and forgiving each other..in short..forgive and move on. Just watch the timing.
ReplyDeleteThe new trains that arrived were for the Circle Line. In other words all along no new trains are planned for or added at all for existing lines. This will always be the case when you have a profit-seeking listed company that watches its profit margin more than its role in serving public needs. Hard Truth to keep Singaporeans repenting!
ReplyDeleteJOTeo couldn't possibly admit that her govt's runaway immigration open floodgates got a lot to do with the malady. That would be slapping her own face and her bosses'. That would be like removing the very reason why she had been chosen for higher office to replace a certain woman ex-MP-minister.
ReplyDeleteLui Tuck Yew is no difference from his predecessor.
ReplyDeleteHe can't do anything about it, and won't do anything about the buses after so many different suggestions for him to fix the interim crunches.
He's playing deaf frog once again.
You must know the insiders' story to know the truth. With opaque governance what can the public know?
ReplyDeleteMany foreign friends are surprised that riderships and other transport data are official top secret. And, in their countries, these data are available on the internet for everyone. There is total transparency and freedom of information. Why is this rock so different?
Singaporeans should continue and persistently ask for accountability and transparency in governance and government, if they really want a good country to live in.
Yes, what happen to the review of minister salary? What happen to the Dr Susan Lim's case? What happen to the professor fraud in research? What happen to City Harvest investigation? What happen to...? Do you notice there are totally opaque in this rock? Total cover up?
When I was in civil service, I was taught not to open a can of worms and not to invite questions by saying more than it's necessary. People must understand "covering up" is a "fine tradition" of civil service.
ReplyDeleteThe number of foreigners residing in Singapore went up by 1 million from 2000 to 2010 - you mean 10 years is still not enough to plan for additional capacity? Likewise, there was not even an increase of 1 single hospital bed in those 10 years. With 1 extra million population, surely MOH should plan for more hospital beds. What, 10 years still not enough to get new hospitals up and running?
ReplyDelete