SMRT has decided to let go of the train driver who was involved in the tragic accident that killed two of their young staff members on the train tracks in March.
The Straits Times reported that 49-year-old Rahmat Mohd is now jobless after he was dismissed yesterday following an internal disciplinary inquiry by the public transport operator. Prior to that, he had been reassigned to a non-driving job in the aftermath of the fatal accident on the tracks near Pasir Ris MRT station.
Rahmat, who expressed sadness over his dismissal, wasn’t the only one related to the tragedy who got the sack. Sources who spoke to the paper mentioned an operations control staff member who got fired as well on account of the incident.
Just to jog your memory a bit: Two SMRT maintenance workers were killed on the East-West Line track on March 22. 26-year-old Nasrulhudin Najumudin and 24-year-old Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari had been part of a 15-man group sent to investigate a possible fault with track equipment, but were hit by an oncoming train. Both casualties were undergoing on-the-job training at the time.
Multiple lapses were found during an internal probe — lapses that led to the fatal accident. Watchmen weren’t deployed to look out for approaching trains; early warning wasn’t given to the maintenance team; and the train was operating in auto mode when it should have been in manual while workers were on site.
