Transport operator SMRT has wrapped up its internal investigations into the fatal accident that killed two new employees near Pasir Ris MRT Station last month.

In a statement on Friday (April 8), SMRT said its findings will now be reviewed by a panel before the report is submitted to the police and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). The operator said it has brought in experts from Keppel Corporation and Transport for London — which manages the transport services of the British capital — and an expert who has served with Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway Corporation to be part of this panel.

SMRT shed no new light on the accident on March 22, which killed Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, 24, and Nasrulhudin Najumudin, 26. They were killed by an oncoming train while on their way, as part of a team of 15, to check on a warning signal from a monitoring device. The accident marked the first fatalities involving SMRT staff along the East-West and North-South rail lines.

In an earlier statement, the transport operator said a key safety procedure — to ensure trains do not enter sectors where maintenance workers had to step on the trackway — was not followed. The train captain had immediately applied the emergency brakes when he saw the staff on the track, but he was unable to prevent the accident.

Last week, the MOM, in consultation with the Land Transport Authority, ordered several interim safety measures to be put in place for work on railway tracks.

Among the measures that SMRT has to abide by from March 31: No trains should be on automatic mode for sections of the track where staff are required on the adjacent track walkway; the trains must be manually operated and at low speeds. Also, no trains are allowed to approach sections of the track where works such as repairs are taking place before any personnel is allowed to proceed to those areas. Watchmen must also be deployed to alert personnel on the tracks of oncoming trains from both directions of the track.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Asyraf Kamil And Clifford Lee

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]