LTA reduces SMRT fine to S$2.4 million from S$3 million for major MRT disruption in 2024
Financial penalty will go to the Public Transport Fund to assist lower-income families; transport operator must also invest at least S$600,000 to strengthen its capabilities
[SINGAPORE] The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has fined public transport operator SMRT S$2.4 million for the six-day disruption of train services on the East-West Line in September 2024.
In a statement on Friday (Jul 25), LTA said it had sent the notice of imposition of financial penalty to SMRT.
LTA had informed SMRT on May 30 of its intention to apply a penalty of S$3 million, and gave the operator two weeks to submit its representations, which SMRT did on Jun 6.
Following that, the regulator decided to impose a fine of S$2.4 million, which will go to the Public Transport Fund to assist lower-income families with their public transport expenses.
“In reaching this decision, LTA took into consideration the considerable challenges SMRT had faced in planning and executing their overhaul regime for the Kawasaki Heavy Industries trains, particularly in procuring the necessary spare parts for the overhaul due to global supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the regulator.
LTA also directed SMRT to invest a minimum of S$600,000 to “strengthen its capabilities and address areas of improvement from the incident, so as to improve service reliability for commuters”.
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As part of due process, SMRT has 14 days from the reception of the notice of imposition to appeal to the minister for transport.
The regulator added that Singapore’s rail system continues to be one of the most reliable rail systems in the world, with the mean kilometres between failure (a measure of rail reliability) remaining above the 1 million train-kilometres target since 2019.
On Jun 3, LTA publicly revealed the findings of its investigation into the East-West Line incident, which showed that SMRT had twice delayed the overhaul of the train that broke down. This caused the axle box of the train to be dislodged, damaging the tracks and equipment between Dover station and Ulu Pandan Depot.
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SMRT incurred a S$5.4 million fine in 2016 due to disruptions on the North-South and East-West lines in 2015, which affected more than 400,000 commuters.
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