SMRT

[ValueMushroom]

U can also see it another way, Worker Party won a GRC, then train service deterioted, we should vote out Worker Party.

U can see this kind reasoning is very dumb right?

[sgd]

I was a bit taken back by the straits times one article on the ceo headings that say it is not possible to find and repair every flaw. I am shocked this means they are not interested to resolve it a technical issue. Attitude is not there already some more on national paper quite a disgrace for a ceo to say that.

They trying to get people to re-condition to this expectation because now at 5.8 milllion already having this problem later at 9 million how?

So what's the problem?

All systems in the world have built in buffers or mean time before failure meaning there is an optimum level environment where it is built to work in or work until and even plus a little more but exceed that threshold things start to break down. I dunno what the optimum level for mrt trains are but we hardly had problems when our pop was 3+ million and this was for many years, it started showing cracks when our population jumped.


You join a small new company as IT executive boss says we have only this budget for 30 people please go source for a good network file-sharing email and printer systems enough for 30 people. So being a good smart guy you will find something that you estimate is sized for 30 but also have a little buffer and room for up to 35-40 people so your life will be easy and got time to kopi with the pretty admin and secretaries

But after a few years business booms now headcount grow to 70 people double capacity and exceeded past your "buffers" so upgrade is the obvious choice but boss always says no money must buy mercedes or condo this year to look good for customer image. Can you go to simlim sq buy more memory or upgrade hardisk storage to fix this, so to avoid your performance bonus getting cut you obey and add more resource there are still a few complains here there but things are manageable what to do?

Business boom again now headcount exceeded 100 people everything has more than triple everyday you are firefighting or struggling after some issue either something has crash or system damn slow, surfing internet damn slow, pretty secretaries are giving you dagger looks - bad sign.

boss tells you "Hire you is to solve problems for us not create problem for me, fix it or I do something" - *gulp*

So what's the problem in mrt. Is it a system problem, a management problem, a micro-managing boss "at the top" problem?

[brattzz]

it's plain incompetent LEEdership sir!

Start changing the LEEders now before it's too late!

[Freenasi]

This clearly shows CEO Desmond has high tolerence on breakdowns. Sadly it also shows how unsuitable he is too. The types of training in the army is all doctrinated, paper warfare, theoretical examinations, which probably didnt help in his latest appointment.

I was a bit taken back by the straits times one article on the ceo headings that say it is not possible to find and repair every flaw. I am shocked this means they are not interested to resolve it a technical issue. Attitude is not there already some more on national paper quite a disgrace for a ceo to say that.

This is not like finding every flaw in a art piece which is subjective. Here is pure science and engineering issue. Yhr thing about science is good is factual based on proven science basis. Can work means can work. Wear out can repair.

agreed, this is rail engineering, not ROCKET launch into space...
CEO makes irresponsible statements, LTA CEO and TUCK YEW all in the same gang...

PM LHL better step in and wake them up, else all have to GO!!

PM Lee action pls!

Did he apply for the job and went thru all the interviews or just parachuted into this job ? As long as his backer is happy with him, why he cares others not happy with him ? He just couldn't careless.

Why should he care?

It's not as though I am going to vote for WP just because of this incident. At the end of the day, most voters will still vote for PAP.

I have more confidence in Tin Pei Ling than I have in Sylvia Lim or Chen Show Mao put together.

Get used to regular SMRT breakdown or buy a car, because some of us are not going to change our voting pattern.

Even with people complaining about MRT breakdowns, cost of livings, influx of FTs, etc, people have short term memory. Before elections u will hear/see all the "good stuffs" on tv, radio, newspapers etc.. Together with all the SG50 promotions and goodies thrown at the voters, people's hearts will be swayed and the result is quite predictable.

[HitandRun]

Business boom again now headcount exceeded 100 people everything has more than triple everyday you are firefighting or struggling after some issue either something has crash or system damn slow, surfing internet damn slow, pretty secretaries are giving you dagger looks - bad sign.

I like your analogy but I think there is an important difference here. Now, you do not even know where the problem is when the system breaks down.... To me, this suggests that the engineering core / tribal knowledge is much more depleted than what is apparent under the previous management. And if we go to the bottom of things, LTA has only itself to blame for fostering such a situation.

[investor101]

U can also see it another way, Worker Party won a GRC, then train service deterioted, we should vote out Worker Party.

U can see this kind reasoning is very dumb right?

Quite dumb indeed.

The WP is only an opposition party. In Singapore politics, opposition can only go to Parliament and asks questions. They aren't even a form a of check-and-balance because they are too few to block any lousy proposal. Any party with a 2/3 majority can easily make their decision at the party CEC level, and rubber stamp in in parliament. They also have no real executive powers.

All executive control of the country is in the hands of a single party. The ministries and stat boards are all headed by PAP people or people who are very closely linked to the party. So, if the country does well, the party can take the credit. Likewise, if the system fails, the party should also take the blame. They can take very little blame if local reporters know how to write a good article and deflect the blame away.

Even in their own town coucil, WP is not king. They still have to contend with the "non-partisan" grassroots and CCC, which are all led by PAP people who are most likely to be contesting in the ward under PAP logo.

Anyway, learn to live with the regular SMRT breakdown. Most singaporeans voted for it anyway. As a shareholder of SMRT, I am more concerned about SMRT returning to me shareholder value. I am not really concerned about how the train breakdown affects ordinary folks as I have a car and travel mostly by car. My only concern would be how the train breakdowns affect revenue and profits.

That's the reality of having a public transport that is answerable to shareholders, not to the public. This is the ugly truth. 60.1% of us, including me, voted for it.

[sgd]

Business boom again now headcount exceeded 100 people everything has more than triple everyday you are firefighting or struggling after some issue either something has crash or system damn slow, surfing internet damn slow, pretty secretaries are giving you dagger looks - bad sign.

I like your analogy but I think there is an important difference here. Now, you do not even know where the problem is when the system breaks down.... To me, this suggests that the engineering core / tribal knowledge is much more depleted than what is apparent under the previous management. And if we go to the bottom of things, LTA has only itself to blame for fostering such a situation.

I don't believe their engineers don't know the problem I believe they not saying the true problem.

my believe the system is undersized to meet the today's and future needs.

Place yourself way back to when they first thought of building this, we gain our independence in 65 when they started design this in late 70's our population was not so big that time and economy not so strong like today so finances to do this could been limited.

Consider that era government policy on population controls that 2 is enough, the designers could have in mind that population will never grow beyond certain limit because of government control factor. They would have a chance to study other small countries mrt systems.

The fact of the matter is today go to any station you can see the stations can only fit 6 cars, other places like hongkong their stations fit 8 cars. So I believe they picked out a system suitable to population size and budgetary limitations at that time.

Like the illustration I made of the small company with 30 people and later kept growing and growing but infrastructure not keeping up because company was focus on growth and making money.

Today:
smrt always in the negative news, they always seen as firefighting and dealing with all kinds of system crashes.

micro-managing:
big time politicians all the way to PM are always raising 'concern' the guys on the ground could be trying to please these concerns instead of really fixing it they trying to work around buy more trains add more memory add more storage, upgrade here upgrade there basically that resembles patching holes whenever they appear.

I believe a painful overhaul is required or a better idea would be having another parallel train system like maybe PRT or monorail. Because now at 5.8 million already like that and they have white paper want to bring 9 million 12 million how do you think it's going to be like when the system is almost 50yrs old by then?

[brattzz]

SMRT's performance is also an direct indicator/reflection of the current singapore's government's capabilities...

come election day and MRT paralyzes again... let's see how voters VOTEs!

Clean up this SHXT once and for all, be the singapore that we are!

[investor101]

Business boom again now headcount exceeded 100 people everything has more than triple everyday you are firefighting or struggling after some issue either something has crash or system damn slow, surfing internet damn slow, pretty secretaries are giving you dagger looks - bad sign.

I like your analogy but I think there is an important difference here. Now, you do not even know where the problem is when the system breaks down.... To me, this suggests that the engineering core / tribal knowledge is much more depleted than what is apparent under the previous management. And if we go to the bottom of things, LTA has only itself to blame for fostering such a situation.

I don't believe their engineers don't know the problem I believe they not saying the true problem.

my believe the system is undersized to meet the today's and future needs.

Place yourself way back to when they first thought of building this, we gain our independence in 65 when they started design this in late 70's our population was not so big that time and economy not so strong like today so finances to do this could been limited.

Consider that era government policy on population controls that 2 is enough, the designers could have in mind that population will never grow beyond certain limit because of government control factor. They would have a chance to study other small countries mrt systems.

The fact of the matter is today go to any station you can see the stations can only fit 6 cars, other places like hongkong their stations fit 8 cars. So I believe they picked out a system suitable to population size and budgetary limitations at that time.

Like the illustration I made of the small company with 30 people and later kept growing and growing but infrastructure not keeping up because company was focus on growth and making money.

Today:
smrt always in the negative news, they always seen as firefighting and dealing with all kinds of system crashes.

micro-managing:
big time politicians all the way to PM are always raising 'concern' the guys on the ground could be trying to please these concerns instead of really fixing it they trying to work around buy more trains add more memory add more storage, upgrade here upgrade there basically that resembles patching holes whenever they appear.

I believe a painful overhaul is required or a better idea would be having another parallel train system like maybe PRT or monorail. Because now at 5.8 million already like that and they have white paper want to bring 9 million 12 million how do you think it's going to be like when the system is almost 50yrs old by then?

My inside source told me that years ago, many of the capable engineers have been retrenched. Also, those capable senior engineers often don't go high up the hierarchy. The top people are usually the scholars from other government bodies, who have no experience in running mrts nor suitable professional expertise. But they are there at the top because they are the scholars.

A number of the engineers were let go and replaced with cheaper foreign technicians. So, don't expect the mrt to be as reliable as it was in the past.

[cfa]

They want to solve the problem ? Dream on ! Do they need to take train in the first place ? They have few cars at home.