After being silent for over 12 hours, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan came out from hiding to score political points this evening (Nov 15) and gave his comments on the slew of train breakdowns happened today. The Transport Minister said that his fellow million-dollar ministers are out in full force paying visits to the train collision victims:
“It’s an awful day. Commuters were inconvenienced and some were even injured. So we are deeply sorry for that. Those who were injured and are in hospitals, the Second Minister (for Transport), Ng Chee Meng as well as Senior Minister of State for Transport, Dr Lam (Pin Min) visited all of them. They have been most understanding and we are deeply grateful.”
Minister Khaw Boon Wan then passed the blame to the signalling contractor, Thales, and said that the US-based contractor will do a “thorough check”:
“This is the first major incident involving the new signalling system. Thales is confident of the system and I advised the team, ‘lets play doubly safe’- safety is involved. That’s why I advised them to suspend the Tuas West Extension (operations) tomorrow. Then we have a whole day to do a thorough check before we resume the Tuas West extension.”