Speech by Minister for Transport Mr Khaw Boon Wan at the 7th Joint Forum on Infrastructure Maintenance

Friends and colleagues,

1.     Three years ago, Mr Tan Gee Paw suggested a Joint Forum on Infrastructure Maintenance for us to share best practices, and to learn from one another. This way, we do not re-invent the wheel and can avoid preventable mistakes. While we maintain different kinds of infrastructure, the engineering principles behind maintenance are applicable to all. A well-maintained asset is safe and reliable. A well-designed asset is easy to maintain and less susceptible to failure. An optimal purchase decision will ensure that we incur the least possible cost over the lifecycle of the asset.

2.     The Joint Forum has proven its usefulness. I know that LTA and our rail operators find the discussions useful. We also value the friendship that the network of engineers has generated. It allows us to tap on one another’s experience and expertise, even though we come from different organisations.

3.     In one previous Forum, I remember the sharing by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) on how they incorporate maintenance training in their tenders and how they work closely with their aircraft and systems manufacturers, to ensure that our Air Force sustain a high degree of reliability and readiness.

4.     RSAF’s presentation was directly relevant to LTA and our rail operators. We have been considering a similar approach for our rail system, specifically on how to incorporate strategic considerations in our procurement efforts. The RSAF experience has provided us with useful guidance. Let me illustrate with two examples.

5.     First, we took a life cycle costing approach in the recent renewal of the first-generation fleet of 66 trains operating on the NSEWL. Through close consultation between LTA and SMRT, Long-Term Service Support requirements for the full design life of the trains were included as part of tenderers’ proposals. This ensured that train manufacturers had the right incentives to deliver a well-designed asset, that is easy to maintain, not susceptible to failure, and minimises the overall life cycle costs. This will feed into a virtuous cycle for the downstream operations, maintenance and system reliability of our train fleet.

6.     Second, as our rail network becomes more extensive, we need to think about greater standardisation across the rail system. By 2030, we will have 8 MRT lines. Is it wise to have 8 different system providers for signalling, another 8 for trains, another 8 for power and so on? If we do that, our engineers will need to learn 8 different systems, multiplied by many different assets. This is not a good use of our engineering talent. It also prevents us from exploiting economies of scale. Like our RSAF, we should be looking to forge an optimal number of strategic partnerships that balances competitiveness and contestability, with optimising standards in our local rail industry.

Progress on Rail Reliability

7.     Our ultimate objective is to make our MRT lines safe and reliable. We set an audacious target, to achieve an MKBF of 1 million train-km. Very few MRT lines have consistently achieved such a target. Hence we chose this benchmark, to inspire our team. We adopted a multi-year multi-pronged strategy to achieve this target.

8.     At the last Forum, I spoke about the importance of “ECLO” or Early Closures, Late Openings. We know that ECLO involves trade-offs for our operators and inconvenience to our commuters. I am grateful for our commuters’ patience and understanding.

9.     With ECLO, the East-West Line (EWL) has successfully transited to the new signalling system. Last year, the MKBF for our entire rail network was 180,000 train-km. For the first 3 quarters of this year, MKBF has improved to 661,000 train-km. Two of our lines, North East Line (NEL) and Downtown Line run by SBST, have crossed the 1 million MKBF target. The Circle Line (CCL) and North-South Line (NSL) are not yet there but the SMRT teams have put in enormous efforts and made significant improvements over the last few years. I am confident that they will, in due course, also meet the 1 million MKBF target. EWL should also be able to catch up soon.

10.    We have turned the corner but our mission is not yet accomplished. We have completed three major asset renewal projects for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL): sleepers, third rail, and signalling system. There are three more to go: power, track circuits, and first-generation trains. Any lapse in execution and we will lose the public confidence that we have painstakingly rebuilt. We must remain focused on our mission, to move commuters in a safe and reliable manner.

11.    I must highlight the complexity of the power renewal project which has just started. The project is extensive; it will involve the replacement of nearly 1,300km of power cables, 250km of fibre optics cables, 206 power transformers, 172 switchboards and 171 substations. These are bulky, complicated pieces of equipment that need to be handled carefully yet swiftly by our rail workers, so that the whole system is ready for passenger service the next morning. Our transport workers are entering a sensitive and complex phase of the renewal works, and we will take every precaution to ensure their safety.

12.    Yesterday, President Halimah hosted more than 400 of our transport workers at the Istana. She personally presented awards to outstanding workers who went the extra mile to brighten our journeys through acts of kindness. I thank the President for this heart-warming gesture to recognise and appreciate our transport workers. Indeed, without the hard work of our transport workers, we will not be able to make progress on rail reliability.

Anchoring Rail Engineering Expertise in Singapore

13.    Even as we work round the clock to improve reliability, the key to sustaining progress is to anchor deep engineering expertise in Singapore, through close working relationships with our strategic partners. This is a priority for Singapore, and it will increasingly feature in our future procurement.

14.    It takes two hands to clap – just as we invest and put our trust in our strategic partners, our partners must invest in us and have a stake in Singapore. Rail reliability is our national priority, and our strategic partners must be aligned with us on this. Instead of one-off deals, we are looking to foster long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with engineering firms and equipment manufacturers, who commit to establishing a strong base for their regional activities in Singapore. This would include having some of their senior engineers from headquarters based in Singapore, the benefits of which we have already seen through the recent re-signalling programme for the EWL. There will be many opportunities ahead to collaborate. We are now building the Thomson-East Coast Line, and are scheduled to start work on the Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line in coming years. The NEL has reached the 15-year mid-life mark and in a few more years, the CCL will also require some subsystem upgrades and renewals.

15.    At the end of the day, when Singapore succeeds, our strategic partners succeed together with us; if you can meet the high standards of Singapore, you should be able to succeed elsewhere too. Today’s Joint Forum will focus on “Providing Better Engineering Support” to push the possibilities for this strategy.  I am pleased that we have with us today, Alstom, Bombardier, Siemens and Thales to share their plans to grow engineering capabilities in Singapore.  I look forward to their presentations.  

Thank you.