Following two condemning reports by States Times Review (STR) calling out SMRT for publishing fake news on the breakdown incidents on June 1 and June 2, public transport operator SMRT today (June 6) published a new press release backtracking and confirming that the two incidents were resulted from faults, and not system tests.
You may view SMRT’s press release here:
“The first incident at 6.20pm on 1 June 2017 was due to a glitch in the computer server used to manage train schedules… On 2 June 2017, a signalling equipment known as the Movement Authority Unit (MAU) registered a fault at 4.48pm…”
On June 1, SMRT and the state-controlled media published a press release claiming that the 30min-long delays were due to “signalling checks”. STR lambasted SMRT and the government propaganda media for publishing fake news.
SMRT issue fake news: No breakdowns, just 30min-long “signalling checks”
On June 2, SMRT again claimed that a second massive delay was caused by “system checks”. STR, again, slammed the state media and SMRT, this time with proof on the signage display at the station written “Signalling Fault”.
Second massive train breakdown, SMRT recycle same fake news: Only system checks
The dissemination of fake news warrant a criminal penalty, but the Singapore Police did not act on both cases despite having STR flagging them out.