Written Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan to Parliamentary Question on International Benchmarks to Track Reliability and Safety of MRT System

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Transport 

a.     what are the assumptions for the 2020 target of 1,000,000 mean kilometres between failures (MKBF) that have been made for our MRT system;

b.     what other international benchmarks are available to track the reliability and safety of our MRT system; and

c.     whether the Ministry will consider designing new yardsticks to better reflect the actual experiences of commuters.

Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan:

1.     Two years ago, I challenged the rail operators to significantly improve the reliability of our MRT services and make them among the most reliable in the world. We launched a multi-year effort to bring this about and actively track our performance against the best in class. The Taipei Metro and Hong Kong MTR were picked as our benchmarks, using MKBF (Mean Kilometres Between Failure for delays exceeding 5 minutes) as the objective measure of train reliability.

2.     As Taipei and Hong Kong were able to achieve an MKBF of 800,000 train-km, I set that as our target. Last year, after Taipei achieved an MKBF of 1 million train-km, I updated our 2020 target to 1 million train-km, as I am determined to close the reliability gap with the best in class. It is a stretch target, but with determination and focus, it is within our grasp. We will also speed up our asset renewal programmes and continue to add new lines to enhance the resilience of our rail network.

3.     MKBF is an internationally recognised indicator for rail reliability. There are industry groups of large, medium and small metros, such as CoMET (Community of METros) and Nova which publish MKBF data for benchmarking by peers. Based on their data, there are only a handful of metros globally that have achieved an MKBF of 1 million train-km or better. 

4.     We have focused on train reliability as the key area for improvement. However, commuter experience is shaped by a host of other factors like safety, punctuality, cleanliness and comfort. LTA tracks all these indicators too. In addition, the Public Transport Council monitors commuter experience through its annual Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey.

5.     We have some way to go before we reach our MKBF target of 1 million train-km. Recent setbacks have affected commuters' perception of the progress we have made. We are re-doubling our efforts and we seek commuters' patience and understanding.