Decisions to Build Bukit Panjang LRT System
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the development and design challenges of the Bukit Panjang LRT, with MP Pritam Singh querying if it was an afterthought and what pressures influenced its construction. Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng explained that the system was a 1994 pilot integrated into an existing estate, which necessitated sharp turns over undulating terrain. He noted that adapting a straight-line airport system to this terrain caused technical faults, specifically power collector shoes dislodging from power rails. The Minister detailed ongoing efforts by LTA and SMRT to improve reliability through system checks and additional power sources to mitigate these inherent design issues. He concluded by announcing that a tender would be called by the end of the year to overhaul the system as it nears the end of its design life.
Transcript
3 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the Bukit Panjang LRT system was built as an afterthought; and (b) what were the political pressures faced by the Government when it decided to build the Bukit Panjang LRT system.
The Second Minister for Transport (Mr Ng Chee Meng) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, in the 1990s, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) was exploring a pilot Light Rail Transit (LRT) network to bridge the last-mile gap from the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and ease vehicle congestion within housing estates where population growth had stretched the road capacity. Bukit Panjang was identified in 1994 for the pilot, even though it was planned and built without LRT in mind.
To accommodate the existing developments, the LRT had to take sharp turns over undulating terrain. Over time, we discovered that this made the LRT prone to faults, especially power trips at the sharp bends, where the trains' collector shoes often dislodge from the power rail. LTA and Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) have put in significant efforts to improve system reliability, including detailed power rail checks, hotspot replacement and installation of an additional power source. They are also exploring extending engineering hours to address these additional works.
As the LRT is coming to the end of its design life, we will be calling a tender at the end of this year to overhaul the LRT.
Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): I thank the Second Minister for the reply. I know it does not answer the question; I can understand why because the Minister is not here. But just to confirm: this issue of the topographical constraints of Bukit Panjang was raised by the former Minister for Transport Mr Lui Tuck Yew in 2015 as a reason why it is not feasible to rebuild the entire line, because of these constraints. The former Chief Executive Officer of SMRT Ms Saw Phaik Hwa was also quoted as saying, "LRTs are meant to be simple lines and are not meant to make many turns and go up and down hills."
It would appear that a design issue is at the heart of the problems affecting the Bukit Panjang LRT Line. And to that end, can I just ask, would this be a correct characterisation of the problem with the Bukit Panjang LRT Line and, if so, who was responsible for the design of that particular Line? Was it LTA or the winning tenderer?
The second question I have is with regard to tender selection when the Line was awarded to Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE). It was reported that KIE was the lowest bidder and its price worked out to about $35 million per kilometre. This was significantly lower, compared to similar LRT Lines made around that period or tendered around that period in Malaysia and Thailand. So, was that an issue?
Mr Ng Chee Meng: Mr Speaker, the primary issue with the Bukit Panjang LRT is that the LRT design was adapted from an airport system, primarily, to a housing estate. As I have stated in my reply, this straight-line design of the LRT was adapted to undulating terrain and sharp turns, and this caused the power collector shoes to dislodge from the power rail. We have taken a look at the design considerations and this will be addressed in the upcoming tender to improve the reliability of the whole system.
So, in the initial implementation of the LRT, we adapted a system that is usually for straight-line travel into a housing estate. This had caused some of these power dislodge problems.