Major reforms for rail operations

The reliability woes plaguing the MRT system have often been blamed on the disconnect of having a public-listed firm, SMRT, run a public transportation system. Many have questioned whether the pressure of turning in tidy profits for shareholders has compromised the investments required to upgrade and maintain rail infrastructure and trains.

But sweeping reforms have taken place this year to address this conflict, with SMRT's majority shareholder Temasek Holdings buying out and delisting the company, as well as the Government taking over SMRT's rail assets.

SMRT Chairman Koh Yong Guan has said that taking the company private 'will allow SMRT to better fulfil its role as a public transport operator without the pressure of short term market expectations'. Temasek also said it can collaborate more closely with SMRT with it being a private entity.

The delisting comes at a critical juncture of SMRT's transformation, with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) buying over all of its operating assets for about $1 billion. Under the New Rail Financing Framework - which kicked in on 1^st October for SMRT - commuters' needs can be better served, the LTA has said. The authority now makes the call on capacity expansion, allowing rail services to be more responsive to ridership changes.

The LTA will also ensure more timely replacement and upgrading of operating assets such as trains and signalling systems, to keep the rail network running smoothly. Relieved of heavy capital expenditures, SMRT can focus on maintenance and delivering reliable train services. Besides the sweeping changes to SMRT's operations, radical changes to simplify the rail fare structure were also put in place this year.

On Friday, fares for fully-underground MRT lines - the Circle, Downtown and North-East lines - will be lowered to the same level as those for the above-ground North-South and East-West lines. Adult commuters using travel cards currently pay between five cents and 25 cents more for using underground lines.

Announcing the changes in October, the Public Transport Council (PTC) also said commuters will be charged on the basis of the shortest route between start and end points from 30^th December. Till now, fares have been based on the fastest travel path, which may not always be the shortest.

The PTC said the move will result in commuters always paying the lowest fares possible, while the harmonisation of fares for rail lines will better distribute commuters across the network as some take above-ground lines only to save on fares.