Embattled transport minister Khaw Boon Wan has had a rough couple of months fielding public castigation over the persistent disruptions and delays of SMRT train services, but there seems to be an end in sight. Sorta.
Responding to a question by Member of Parliament (MP) Lee Bee Wah in Parliament today, Khaw revealed that the resignalling works on the North-South Line — that’ve caused frequent occurrences of train delays during peak hours — might be done by November’s end. This would be slightly ahead of the schedule, which was expected to be completed at the end of the year.
Khaw stated that the project itself is entering its “last leg” of testing, and that there’s “no reason” why the November target can’t be met.
Faced with overwhelming public displeasure over commuting disruptions, the Land Transport Authority and SMRT had warned the public to expect delays due to tests being conducted on the new signalling system. SMRT CEO Lee Ling Wee had to write a long blog post on why they had no choice but to test the signalling system during peak hours.
Though resignalling works on the NSL might be completed in November, it won’t mean the complete end of commuting woes. The transport minister noted that there are plans to roll out and test a new signalling system on the whole East-West Line, which will probably bring about a whole new cavalcade of issues.
