Govt to minimise major MRT disruptions: Lui Tuck Yew

The Government will try to minimise major disruptions of more than 30 minutes, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said on Monday, even as he warned that some disruptions and defects on the heavily-used MRT were 'unavoidable'.

He has asked the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to work with train operators to monitor defects early on, and prioritise which parts of the tracks or trains need to undergo maintenance first.

His comments came on the wake of a spate of disruptions in recent months, the latest of which involved a 45-minute disruption on the East-West MRT Line on Sunday that affected about 500 passengers. But Mr Lui said that Sunday's figures should be seen in perspective: They account for about 0.02 per cent of the 2.7 million trips made daily.

He also assured Nominated MP Ramasamy Dhinakaran that operator SBS Transit had a maintenance regime in place for the North-East Line, which had a 10-hour breakdown in March.

Source: The Straits Times

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