Adequacy of Existing Flood Prevention Measures for Underground MRT Stations
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the adequacy of flood prevention measures for underground MRT stations and potential enhancements due to climate change, as raised by Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye. Acting Minister Chee Hong Tat stated that infrastructure designs incorporate climate scenarios and comply with the Public Utilities Board’s Code of Practice for drainage. New stations feature elevated entrances, while older facilities utilize flood barriers and undergo periodic reviews to align with international standards and evolving weather patterns. Transport operators maintain these facilities through regular inspections, staff refresher training, and flood incident response drills to ensure readiness for extreme rainfall. Additionally, the Land Transport Authority audits these incident response plans to ensure that operators can effectively mitigate flooding risks at all underground stations.
Transcript
14 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Transport (a) what are the existing flood prevention measures for underground MRT stations; and (b) whether these measures need to be enhanced, considering the more frequent rainfall in Singapore due to climate change.
Mr Chee Hong Tat (for the Minister for Transport): The design of MRT infrastructure has taken into consideration climate change scenarios, such as increases in sea levels, rainfall, ambient temperature and wind strength, based on findings from the National Climate Change Study by the Centre for Climate Research Singapore. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) also periodically reviews the design of existing infrastructure to ensure that they comply with international standards and best practices.
Underground MRT stations are designed in compliance with Public Utilities Board’s Code of Practice (COP) for Surface Water Drainage, which sets out the drainage and flood protection requirements for all developments. For instance, new underground MRT stations have elevated entrances to guard against flooding. The COP is reviewed regularly to ensure that its requirements remain robust in light of urbanisation and increasing weather uncertainties due to climate change.
For existing stations that do not meet the latest requirements, LTA has also put in place further mitigation measures, such as flood barriers, to reduce flood risk. These protective facilities are maintained regularly by operators to ensure that they are in working order.
The operators also regularly conduct refresher training on flood barrier installation for operational staff and conduct periodic flood incident response drills at various underground MRT stations. In addition, LTA audits flood incident response plans to assess operators’ readiness to respond to station flooding incidents.