Overall rail reliability improved?
I refer to the article “Overall rail reliability improved in first nine months of 2015: LTA” (Channel NewsAsia, Dec 11).
7 delays in 9 months of 2015 compared to 10 in 2014
It states that “There were seven delays that stretched more than 30 minutes between January and September 2015, compared to 10 in 2014.
This year’s numbers have not included disruptions on the North East Line in October and the North South Line in November. Both delays lasted about two hours.”
MRT breakdowns improved?
How did the LTA or the media come to the conclusion that “Overall rail reliability seems to have improved in the first three quarters of this year compared to 2014, based on latest statistics from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) released on Friday (Dec 11)”?
With 9 major disruptions so far this year – how do we know whether there may be anymore disruptions for the rest of the 20 days of this month? If we have just one more disruption – it would equal the 10 last year.
12 disruptions in 1st 9 months of 2014 becomes 10 disruptions in 2014?
According to the article “Number of major MRT delays hits four-year high” (Today, Dec 19, 2014) – “The number of major train service delays this year for the entire MRT network has hit a new high, with the dozen incidents in the first nine months of the year (2014) already outstripping the previous high of 11 that were recorded in 2011″.
So, how did 12 disruptions in the first nine months of 2014 become 10 for the whole year of 2014?
“Delays caused by external factors” not counted anymore?
Is it because some of the disruptions are now no longer counted under the new definition of “delays caused by external factors will now be excluded. This refers to factors beyond the control of operators or authorities, such as the actions of passengers”?
“Severity of breakdowns” also never count?
As to “Prof Lee said this shows work to improve rail reliability has been effective and the overall system looks like its stabilising. But he noted one area that may be missing in the numbers – the severity of breakdowns.
For instance – Singapore saw its worst disruption in July this year, when the North South and East West lines were down for more than three hours, affecting more than 250,000 commuters.
“Using the new methodology (on) this kind of large scale breakdown, the magnitude would not be reflected” – it would appear that if we simply add up the total time of all the major disruptions – there may been no improvement.
LRT: 4 in 2014 increase to 11 in 1st 3-quarters of 2015
Perhaps the final nail in the coffin may be that “The number of delays lasting more than 30 minutes on the LRT has already gone up from four in 2014 to 11 in the first three quarters of 2015″.
Uniquely Singapore!
LeongSzeHian
A.S.S. Contributor
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