As to what SMRT plans to do as trains seem to be maxing out their capacity, she said: 'Trains will be crowded during peak hours. The question is, how crowded?'
She did not think that trains here are as packed as those in cities like Hong Kong, Taipei and Shanghai.
Even at its most crowded, an SMRT train carries 1,400 passengers, she said.
This is 'not crush load', where a train is carrying more passengers than the standing load it is designed to carry under normal circumstances.
Crush load happens when a train carries more than 2,000 passengers.
'People can board the train - it is whether they choose to,' she said.
SMRT chief executive officer and president Saw Phaik Hwa in Sunday ST report "SMRT: Tighter security will not mean higher fare" has claimed that while trains may be crowded, they are not at 'crush load' and 'people can board the train - it is whether they choose to'. She used the example of Hong Kong MTR trains' ability to take in 2000 people during peak hours as compared to singapore's MRT train of 1400 people during peak hours to support her view.
Ms Saw is either misleading or ignorant. HK MTR trains have EIGHT cabins. Singapore's trains have only six cabins! How could she use it as a comparison to Singapore's train system is really beyond my comprehension!
On average, each HK MTR train cabin could take in about 250 people. If we use 250 people as an indicator, Singapore's train would only able to take in about 1500 during peak. This is not very far from the present situation.
This calculations is perfectly relevant and reflect accurately to what we are experiencing on the ground. i.e. the trains are just too packed!
I would advise Ms Saw, as the chief of SMRT, should walk out of her Ivory Tower and dependency on some blind statistics and experience herself first hand the situation on the ground. Apparently she is taking statistics from other places VERY BLINDLY without even understanding the differences involved to make up her IMAGINARY conclusions that Singapore's trains are not at "crush load"!
Goh Meng Seng
P.S. Added information for maximum capacity for a train cabin in HK:
Seats: 46 Standing: 268 Total maximum capacity is 314.
According our SMRT Chief Ms Saw, Crush Load is 2000 per train with six cabin. Means, each cabin will have 333 passengers! How could that be?
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2 comments:
does she deserve her 1.6million salary when she couldn't even know the basic statistics of her counterpart in HK and her own company maximum capacity?
it doesn't matter how many milions, someone up there will say it is peanut.
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