During SMRT's press release on Wednesday evening, SMRT said that maintenance staff did not observe a safety procedure to bring oncoming trains to a stop when they crossed the trackway. Safety SOP dictates that staff who are crossing the tracks must coordinate with a signal unit at the station so as to ensure no trains enter the sector maintenance crews were in.
SMRT confirmed that their records show this procedure of coordinating with the signal unit at the station to ensure oncoming trains came to a stop did not take lace.
By the time the train driver sa Nasrulhudin Najumudin and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari working on the tracks, it was too late to prevent the accident even though he applied the emergency brakes.
SMRT stated that "we take responsibility and apologise for the tragic accident. We express our deepest condolences to the families of Nasrulhudin and Muhammad Asyraf in their time of grief."
After the tragic accident, SMRT has established a team to evaluate all workplace safety procedures and started compulsory safety reviews at all work team levels.
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