Revised_Reader Response (2nd Draft)

In the article, “Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR rail system.”, Lee (2015) states that Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, thought thinks highly of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR), and further suggested suggests that local transportation sectors should use MTRC as a guideline for its “reliability standards”. Based on the annual reports, comparing countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and London, Hong Kong’s subway system emerged with the highest “system’s farebox recovery ratio”. Comparing both MTR and SMRT’s railway systems, the length of MTR’s railway surpasses SMRT’s by 59km. Also, the punctuality of SMRT trains is 3.9% slower than MTR even though both countries face the same amount of significant hold ups. Looking at the expenditure of profits on enhancing train systems, MTR invested invests a larger amount of their earnings compared to SMRT’s rail revenue. MTR also ensures that their passengers enjoy a smooth smoother ride by having frequent inspection comparing to SMRT and to be meticulous in examining the railway lines. MTRC aims to rectify any issues or faults that arises under two minutes with the introduction of the “Super Operations Control Centre” which oversees the entire railway system, resolving emergencies with their fast reaction.


Given that MTR is efficient in railway management, I fully agree with that our operators should benchmark reliability standards according to MTR’s management to maximise its rail expenditure in maintenance-related activities and also to source for alternate ideas to improve railway reliability and efficiency.


According to the article, Mr Khaw mentions that Singapore invests lesser in rail maintenance with 19 per cent in rail revenue in comparison to MTR’s 37 per cent in rail revenue. In the article, “Heavy Investments in Maintaining Rail Network: SMRT”, Lee (2016) disclose that there is an increment of up to 53 per cent of SMRT’s rail revenue spending on maintenance-related activities. Recently, LTA has also broadened its investment by sourcing ideas from related industry companies, encouraging companies to tender project designing a drone for train and tunnels in replace of non-automated checks of deficiency (Mediacorp News Group, 2017). The article also mention that LTA is making use of this opportunity to test out for the feasibility and its effectiveness in making use of drone for doing maintenance work.
This could be Singapore’s first step in learning from MTR, investing in research and development (R&D) to improve its reliability and efficiencies of Singapore’s railway.



SMRT’s efforts have shown to yield significant results after an increment of rail investment with 53 per cent of rail revenue in 2016. According to LTA (2017), “The Rail Report”, there has been a significant improvement in train performance with the operator’s effort in investing on maintenance-related activities. It also provides the Mean Kilometre Between Failure (MKBF), measuring delays of more than 5 minutes has improved from 133,000 train-km travelled in 2015 to 174,000 train-km in 2016, and further improved to 354,000 train-km in the first quarter of 2017. Thus, the results have further proved that the right investment decision could help Singapore to explore a better solution to improve railway reliability.



In conclusion, Singapore should look up to MTR by increasing its expenditure in railway maintenance upon realising its inadequacy in providing better railway services. LTA is also looking to broaden its investment in technology to increase railway reliability. The improvement in train performance could further boost the operator's’ confidence and to encourage them to invest more on maintenance, to increase rail reliability and bettering commuters’ travel experience.

583 words


References

Lee Min Kok (2015). Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR rail system. Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/dubbed-the-best-in-class-6-things-about-hong-kongs-mtr-rail-system#xtor=CS1-10



Land Transport Authority (2017). The Rail Report: Rail Reliability Continues to Improve – More Rail Renewal Projects in The Pipeline. Retrieved from
https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=dfde4510-8fb3-4f69-b992-a0c52a20a6f6



Lee Ling Wee (2016). Heavy Investments in Maintaining Rail Network: SMRT. Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/heavy-investments-in-maintaining-rail-network-smrt



Mediacorp New Group (2017). LTA calls for ideas to test use of drones for tunnel checks. Retrieved from
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/wanted-drones-inspect-underground-mrt-road-tunnels



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