The LTA has announced that its contracts for new trains and railway systems will now ask suppliers to base servicing support in Singapore.
The NEL clocked an average of 955,000 train-km between delays, putting it on a par in terms of reliability with the networks in Hong Kong and Taipei.
Losses mount for rail operator SMRT Trains, as maintenance expenditure now accounts for 71% of rail-fare revenue, up from 45% just three years ago.
SMRT has appointed two chief maintenance officers and one chief operations officer to strengthen its maintenance regime and engineering capabilities.
SMRT will be outsourcing more non-rail maintenance work such as the servicing of tunnel pumps, air-conditioning and tunnel ventilation systems.
SMRT has announced that it plans to hire 40 percent more rail engineers by 2020 and set up readiness inspection teams to audit maintenance works.
SBS Transit will tie-up and work with Singapore Technologies Kinetics to strengthen its rail maintenance and engineering capabilities.
Train operator SMRT has launched an integrated maintenance operations centre (MOC) that will coordinate recovery efforts in the event of rail disruptions.
Khaw Boon Wan stresses the need to ramp up investment in rail maintenance, to close gap to match reliability standards of Hong Kong's MTR.
In a bid to humanise the company, a new advertising campaign by SMRT is being fronted by its rail maintenance and operation staff.