Amidst the outrage and sorrow concerning the fatal accident that killed two SMRT staff on the tracks near Pasir Ris MRT station yesterday, the transport operator announced that they’ll be reviewing their safety protocols.
Barely a couple of months into their job, young trainees Nasrulhudin Najumudin and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari were killed when a train hit them during an investigation into a triggered signalling condition monitoring device.
In a media conference held yesterday evening, SMRT Corp CEO Desmond Kuek assured the media that they’ll be pushing for improvements into their current standard operating procedures.
“We are reviewing our safety protocols that are in place to see how we can make further improvements to the system,” he said.
“We know there are questions about what happened and how it could have happened. In this case, we are trying to establish with witnesses how the team got onto the track or got close enough to the oncoming train that was moving in the direction opposite to them.” SMRT is relying on detailed accounts from witnesses as there is no CCTV footage on that part of the track.
The deceased were part of a 15-man maintenance team that had gone down to the walkway alongside the train tracks to conduct checks, walking towards an oncoming train. Reportedly, the train was being driven in automatic mode, and had been travelling at 60kmh when it hit the two victims.
Replying to questions on why trains had been operating while maintenance work was being performed, Kuek stated that it was a routine procedure for SMRT where investigations into track faults will still be carried out during service hours.
What makes it all even more tragic was the fact that the 26-year-old Nasrulhudin and 24-year-old Muhammad Asyraf had been undergoing on-the-job training when the fatal accident took place. Screenshots of a Whatsapp chat have been circulating online, indicating that Nasrulhudin was to get married this Saturday. Muhammad Asyraf’s birthday was yesterday and his parents was overseas in Mecca, performing their Umrah pilgrimage.
“We understand that faults and malfunctions do happen in our train system, and generally take them in our stride,” said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his statement about the incident. “But it is different when two young men lose their lives in a workplace accident.”
“Whether it turns out to be an unforeseeable mishap, an individual lapse or a system problem, we must do our best to ensure this does not happen again,” he said, expressing his condolences to the victims’ families.
