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Ministry of Transport
In Parliament

Relative Merits of Periodically Tendering MRT Operating Licences Versus Having Dedicated Long-Term Operators For MRT Lines

Sectors

Public transport

Trains

8 September 2026

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question

Assoc Prof Terence Ho asked the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry has assessed the relative merits of periodically tendering MRT operating licences against having dedicated long-term operators for individual MRT lines, taking into account the benefits of contestability as well as continuity in line-specific engineering and maintenance expertise, institutional knowledge and accountability for reliability.

Reply by Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow:

1.            Under the New Rail Financing Framework, the Government owns the rail operating assets and is responsible for asset replacement and upgrading. This allows the rail operators to focus on day-to-day maintenance and provision of reliable rail services.

2.            The shorter duration of the rail licences provides the asset-light operators with sufficient returns, while maintaining market contestability to incentivise good performance from operators. It also allows licence terms to be more frequently updated with new performance standards to improve commuter experience.

3.            Licence arrangements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain fit for purpose, including for continuity in engineering and maintenance expertise, institutional knowledge and accountability for reliability, as well as the increasing capital investment requirements that are shared between the Government and the operator.