SMRT has been handed a $5.4 million fine for massive train breakdown in July

Rail operator SMRT Corp has been handed a $5.4 million fine for a massive breakdown that crippled both the North-South and East-West MRT lines during the evening peak period in July, reported The Straits Times. The amount is the biggest penalty imposed on a rail operator here so far, but is less than what some analysts were expecting.

Soon after the incident, Maybank Kim Eng analyst Derrick Heng noted that SMRT could face a fine of up to $50 million.

He based his projection on new rules that allow the Government to fine an errant operator an amount equivalent to 10 percent of its annual fare revenue for an affected line.

The disruption - the biggest in Singapore so far was caused by electrical power trips at multiple locations in the network. Investigations narrowed the root cause to salt deposits on one of the third rail insulators near a tunnel leak between the Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place stations.

In announcing the penalty, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the incident could have been prevented if SMRT had rectified the leak, as it was required to do. The LTA added that SMRT had also failed to meet requirements under the Code of Practice for incident management. There were reports of widespread confusion, not only at train stations, but also at bus stops where buses had been deployed to replace the trains.

Asked if SMRT would pay up or appeal against the fine, company spokesman Patrick Nathan would only say, "SMRT acknowledges the financial penalty. We have stepped up efforts to systematically address the issue and minimise the possibility of a recurrence."