Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Strategies in Place to Prevent Overcrowding and Risk of Stampede in MRT Stations

Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Transport what strategies are put in place to prevent MRT stations from being overcrowded with commuters and to reduce the risk of crowd pushing, crushing and collapses from occurring.

Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran:

1.     Our rail operators and the Land Transport Authority have in place rail incident management plans which include station-specific crowd control procedures. MRT stations are manned by station staff and monitored by operation control centres on a 24/7 basis. Upon detecting potential build-up of crowds in any part of the station, station managers will trigger a series of crowd control measures to regulate the inflow and outflow of the station. If necessary, operators will contact the relevant Home Team agencies for assistance. Let me give you some examples.

2.     For example, if a crowd is forming on the platform due to service delay, operators may increase train frequencies where possible to promptly clear the crowd. Meanwhile, operators may also take measures to slow down the crowd movement from the concourse to the platform, such as switching off the escalators or even holding back commuters at the concourse level until the crowd at the platform has eased. If necessary, operators will also temporarily divert commuters to other nearby MRT stations. Similar measures are used if there are large crowds trying to exit stations.

3.     These crowd control procedures are part of operators’ rail incident management plans, which are regularly reviewed by Land Transport Authority (LTA) in consultation with the Singapore Police Force. There are also regular joint exercises to ensure that relevant personnel are familiar with the plans. In addition, for special events where larger crowds are expected – such as National Day Parade, Formula One races and New Year’s Eve countdowns - rail operators, LTA and the Singapore Police Force work closely with the event organisers to formulate crowd management contingency plans.