Need for 'live rehearsals' to test contingency plans for train disruptions: Khaw

SINGAPORE transport operators must conduct actual and regular walk-throughs as well as "live rehearsals" to test their contingency plans for rail disruptions, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog entry on Monday.

"This will ensure smoother execution of such plans when disruptions happen,'' said Mr Khaw, who is also Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure,

SMRT and SBST must walk through each contingency plan related to each station, and for the scenarios that they have envisaged with the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

There must be table top exercises, and also ground deployment exercises where contingency plans are tested in a real-life environment. Top management needs to be present at such exercises, as otherwise, the staff may carry them out half-heartedly, just to put a "tick" in the check-boxes.

"Through these exercises, we can also pick up learning points to further improve our plans,'' Mr Khaw said.

He said he has asked LTA to conduct one collective exercise with SMRT and SBST this month to test the contingency plans which they had enhanced since the July 7 incident. He will be there to observe the exercise

A massive service disruption hit both the North-South and East-West MRT lines for about three hours on July 7, which affected more than 400,000 commuters. Rail operator SMRT was fined S$5.4 million for the incident.