Author
Tan Lay Yuen
A front-to-back collision between two trains at the Clementi
Station on 5 August 1993 was the first major accident on the Mass
Rapid Transit (MRT) system since it started operation in 1987. This
first MRT accident resulted in 156 injured commuters.
Description
At 7:50 am on 5 August 1993, an East-bound train from Jurong
stopped at the Clementi Station for two minutes longer than
scheduled due to a technical fault. It was then hit by another
train. Operations at the three affected stations, namely, Clementi,
Buona Vista and Commonwealth resumed within a day after intensive
checks were carried out by Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC)
engineers to ensure that the tracks, signals, power and other
installations were functioning properly.
The train, comprising six carriages, had a full capacity of 1,800
passengers. The peak-hour collision injured 156 commuters. Several
passengers were flung against panels and steel railings of the
train or piled on top of one another, suffering multiple
injuries.
Cause
Immediately after the accident, an independent inquiry panel was
set up by MRTC to investigate the cause of the accident and to
review the operating procedures and safety measures of the MRT
system. The inquiry panel was chaired by Chua Koon Hoe, who
was then Deputy Director-General of the Public Works
Department. Besides Chua, the inquiry panel comprised of two
members, Chang Meng Teng, then Deputy Chairman of the Public
Transport Council, and Dr Natarajan Varaprasad, then Principal of
Temasek Polytechnic, and a secretary, Low Tien Sio, then MRTC's
General Manager. The inquiry panel issued a report on
its findings on 19 October 1993. The report revealed that the
accident was caused by a 50-litre oil spill from a maintenance
locomotive which was carrying out maintenance work at about 5 am on
the day of the accident. According to the findings, a
broken rubber ring caused oil from the locomotive to drip on part
of the tracks stretching from Buona Vista to the Ulu Pandan
depot. Although a cleaning crew was alerted of the oil spill,
cleaning was delayed because the station masters were changing
shifts and there was also some confusion over who was in charge of
the cleaning. The inquiry panel pointed out that the accident
could have been prevented had the staff understood the gravity of
the situation and dealt with the oil spill "sufficiently
aggressively or promptly".
Following the findings of the inquiry panel, train operator
Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd (SMRT) revised its operating
procedures to require station masters to inspect the platform
tracks for oil, and in the circumstance of an oil spill, the train
at the station preceding the oil spill must remain at the station
until the train ahead has left the station.
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