SINGAPORE — Following a 50-per-cent jump in complaints about
warm train cabins from 2014 to last year, SMRT has reviewed the
air-conditioning systems on trains plying the East-West and
North-South Lines and implemented measures to make cabin
temperatures more bearable.
The public transport operator said that one measure was to clean
the motors in air-conditioners more frequently and efficiently,
with a trial use of a new grade of carbon brush that may help
reduce dust formation in the motors of first-generation trains.
Other efforts included using machines to charge the supply of
air-conditioning gas and seal up leaky tubes in second-generation
trains.
The review was first reported by Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on
Wednesday (May 11), and in response to TODAY’s queries, SMRT said
that the study was done between December last year and February. It
found that trains from the first three generations were most
“problematic, as far as the air-conditioning systems go”.
Temperature in train cabins have been hovering at an of average
24 degrees Celsius, the operator reported.
In March, SMRT then set up a taskforce to look into faults
present in the first three generations of trains. The taskforce
found that first-generation trains had dust building up in their
air-conditioner motors which worsens their cooling functions.
Second-generation trains were found to have air-conditioners with
leaking tubes, while third-generation trains had defects that
caused a lack of proper control of the air-conditioners.
The taskforce built on the information obtained during the
earlier three-month review, and measures were taken due to the
recent increase in feedback about the air-conditioning, which SMRT
said could be due to a range of factors, such as the aging train
system, rising temperatures in Singapore, and the increasing number
of commuters.
For Mr Adli Jumat, 23, a social media and content executive who
takes the MRT from Pioneer to Redhill stations daily for work, he
observed that cabin temperature is raised significantly during peak
hours where there is massive human traffic. He likened train rides
to attending an outdoor concert, where it is “sweaty and
sticky”.
Housewife Ruhaizah Maliki, 52, who takes her own handheld fan
onboard trains, said that she sometimes feels “breathless” and the
hot weather makes it feel like there is less air-conditioning.
Ms Melody Ann Gibson, 21, who travels from Admiralty to Bishan
on the North-South Line as part of her daily commute to North Buona
Vista Road, noticed that it “started getting stuffy and hot on the
trains since last week”. She added that during peak hours when the
trains are packed, “it gets really bad and I started getting
headaches”.
SMRT said: “As the trains age, their aging patterns change. And
so we have been proactively stepping up maintenance of our aircon
system, from increased frequency of checks and cleaning, to
replacement of parts altogether.”
-- TODAYonline