“I am confident Minister Khaw will sort things out” – Shanmugam vouches for transport minister in wake of MRT collision

Law Minister K. Shanmugam released a statement on yesterday’s MRT collision, in a Facebook post late last night.

Two MRT trains collided at Joo Koon station yesterday morning, causing at least 29 people to sustain injuries. At a joint conference called to explain preliminary findings on the collision contact between two trains, SMRT and LTA revealed that the “inadvertent” disabling of a software protection feature caused one train to hit another stalled train at Joo Koon station.

Acknowledging that the “recent MRT related issues have sorely tested the public mood,” the Law Minister said, “People naturally ask why these problems are recurring. They are fed up, despite the overall improvement in transport.”

He also lent his support to Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan. Asserting that it “has been a tough 2 years for Boon Wan,” Shanmugam vouched that he has every confidence that Khaw will “sort things out” and “deal with the challenges.”

We re-publish his full statement here:

“There was a collision between two trains today. 29 people were injured.

“The recent MRT related issues have sorely tested the public mood. Today’s collision adds to that.

“People naturally ask why these problems are recurring. They are fed up, despite the overall improvement in transport. When trains get delayed, people feel it acutely, and the overall measurements of disruption free periods mean less to them.

“I am confident Minister Khaw will sort things out. He went into MOT in October 2015. Since then there have been significant improvements, building on the good work of his predecessor, Min Lui Tuck Yew. Of especial note, Min Khaw has moved to strengthen the engineering teams.

“But from a public perspective, all that hard work, good work, has been affected by the recent serious incidents.

“In 2011, Min Khaw volunteered to go to MND, to deal with the housing issues. I remember him telling me : “Housing is the Government’s signature success. And how can we let that drift.” So he asked to go to MND, and within 4 years, got the job done.

“In 2015, he was asked if he could go to MOT. I remember him saying to us, his colleagues : “In 2011, I volunteered to go to MND. Now I am not volunteering. But I will go where I am needed.”

“It has been a tough 2 years for Boon Wan. But I have every confidence that he will deal with the challenges.

“He has set a new target: an MKBF (Mean Kilometres Between Failure) of 1,000,000 train-km by 2020. Very ambitious. But I believe he will be able to achieve it.

“Meanwhile all our prayers and thoughts are with the 29 people who had been injured in today’s collision of trains.”

https://theindependent.sg.sg/khaw-boon-wan-apologises-for-mrt-collision-says-he-is-just-as-upset-as-commuters/