Summary + Thesis + Reader Response - Draft 2

In the following article, “Trains on the North-South and East-West Lines Safe for Service”, Land Transport Authority (LTA) (2016) addressed the problems that they faced and actions taken to resolve the issues in regards to the North-South and East-West lines trains. One of main focus was that battery housing flew open due to pressure. Secondly, cracks were also found on the draughtscreen of five trains. Operations of train services were not affected as these problems were rectified immediately. Lastly, hairline cracks were found but as it was impossible to repair, affected trains that were under warranty were sent back for replacement. To complete the rectification programme by 2019, LTA expressed they would send two trains at a time for servicing. Nevertheless, it’s dependent on the arrival of new trains along with the current ones which are undergoing re-signalling. However, the lack of information given regarding the hairline cracks in LTA’s article made it incomplete.

The first reason that makes the web page incomplete was that LTA didn’t address the issue about why the issues weren’t disclosed earlier, considering this was the focal point of the matter of the moment. The news was first publicized through a Hong Kong investigation news website, FactWire (2016), where they captured multiple photos of affected trains being transported out of a train depot and at Jurong Port. The leak of the news caused an uproar as to why the information wasn’t made known to the public initially and only after the news been leaked. Lim (2016) reported, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said “if there was a safety issue, LTA would have gone public”, which leaves the question whether they are hiding anything else from us. Though after that incident, LTA announced that multiple trains in both Bukit Panjang LRT (BPLRT) line and Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) line were found with cracks. The case for 19 affected trains for BPLRT trains were released just 2 days after the initial news release. The cracks were found by the makers of the train, Bombardier, during their routine check in 2015, and currently majority of them are fixed, through welding methods (Tan, 2016). SPLRT trains, was the most recent case, 2 months after the first press release, the defects were found during the countrywide inspection from the July incident. Manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Japan, of 11 trains, six were back for operation while the leftovers are expected to return by middle October (Tan, 2016).

Additionally, the article is incomplete as some information were not mentioned. In light of the situation happening, Lim (2016) revealed KSF won another contract from LTA, in addition to the contract 151A they were awarded with in 2009, just because they felt the problem was handled decisively. Interviewed by Lim and Siong (2016), a senior lecturer at SIM university, Dr Park, explained that 7 years for repairs is too long unless there is any risk yet to be solved. Taking into consideration how fast the LRT trains were being fixed, furthermore being able to repair with only welding in Singapore, one might consider if LTA had acted too hastily with another contract. Another consideration they failed to mention would be the material being used as during the bidding of the contract, listing that the quality of the material was one of the criteria (Lim, 2016). Former Hong Kong Railway Corporation acting chief executive officer claims  the quality of the trains was under question due to the high frequency of issues (Factwire, 2016). Another point they failed to address is, if trains were safe to operate with cracks, why was there the need to replace the trains, also if there is a safety limit for the cracks. Lastly, other than assuring public that checks were conducted, there were no prevention measures mentioned.

In conclusion, while LTA’s article covered the 3 main concerns, it is considered incomplete due to the fact they left out several information, including why the details about the faults weren't revealed by LTA earlier. The web page also failed to explain the quality of the trains, considering the fact that they awarded the contract to them, yet hairline cracks became appeared more frequently than before. 

References:

FactWire. (2016). China Manufacturer for MTR secretly recalls 35 SMRT subway trains after cracks found.

Retrieved September 25, 2016 from https://www.factwire.news/en/MTR-securetly-recall.html 

Land Transport Authority. (2016). Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service. Retrieved September 20, 2016 from

https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=0f8b1220-0289-4bef-99c9-b2455f17a66c#_ftn1

Lim, K. (2016). Going public on train cracks could have caused undue panic: Khaw. CNA News.

Retrieved September 25, 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/going-public-on-train/2950576.html

Lim, K and Siong, O. (2016). Defects on SMRT trains 'not safety-critical', to be repaired by manufacturer: LTA. CNA News. Retrieved September 25, 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/defects-on-smrt-trains/2931802.html

Tan, C. (2016). US-made LRT trains also had cracks. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 28, 2016 from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/us-made-lrt-trains-also-had-cracks

Tan, C. (2016). Hairline cracks found on 11 Sengkang-Punggol LRT trains. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 28, 2016 from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/hairline-cracks-found-on-11-sengkang-punggol-lrt-trains

Summary + Thesis + Reader Response - Draft 1

In the following article, “Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service”, Land Transport Authority (LTA) (2016) addresses the problems that it faced and actions taken to resolve it in regards to the North-South and East-West lines trains. One of main focus was that battery housing flew open due to pressure. Secondly, cracks were also found on the draughtscreen of five trains. However, operations of train services were not affected as these problems were rectified immediately. Lastly is that hairline cracks were also found but as it is impossible to repair the cracks, affected trains that are under warranty are sent back for replacement. With a view to complete the rectification programme by 2019, LTA express that they will send two trains at a time for servicing. Nevertheless, this is dependent on the arrival of new trains along with the current ones which are undergoing resignalling. However, the lack of information given regarding the hairline cracks in LTA’s article makes its incomplete.

The first reason that makes LTA’s article incomplete is that it doesn’t clearly state who was the one who found the hairline cracks in the first place. In the article, it states “…during a routine inspection of the trains, hairline cracks …. LTA immediately carried out further inspections. “. From this, it sounds as if LTA found the cracks and act upon it immediately. In the contrary, Channel News Asia (CNA)’s Kenneth Lim (2016) published an article with a timeline which shows us the consortium, Kawasaki Sifang (KSF), is the one who conducted the inspection and noticed the cracks.

Secondly is that this article didn’t address the issue about why it wasn’t disclosed earlier. The news was first made known through a Hong Kong investigation news website, FactWire (2016), where they captured multiple photos of affected trains being transported out of a train depot and at Jurong Port. It then caused an uproar between Singaporeans and the government as to why it was disclosed first hand by a third party and only after the news leaked out they decided to go public. CNA reported, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said “if there was a safety issue, LTA would have gone public”, making me ponder if they are hiding anything else from us.

The last reason making this article incomplete is the information that are still not revealed to us yet. Based on another report by CNA, Kenneth Lim and Olivia Siong (2016) stated that Mr Lee Ling Wee, managing director of SMRT Trains, said “A monthly safety assessment is conducted to monitor the defects closely.”, which brings me to wonder how often are safety assessment actually conducted before the discovery of the hairline cracks, as during January 2011, there were no issues and fast forward to July 2013, a sudden 26 out of 35 trains required to be send back. Another point is even though they concluded all the trains are still safe to operate with the cracks they have found, then why is there the need to replace it. Another point that they fail to address is how are they planning to prevent this from happening or minimizing the chances of it, considering they already known what caused the problem, as this questions were not answered in other websites as well.

In conclusion, while LTA’s article covers the 3 main concerns, it fails to tackle question people want them to answer most, which is why it wasn’t publicized earlier. It feels as though the purpose of them writing the article is due to the fact the information they having been keeping secret had been exposed and they had no choice but to explain what is going on.

References:

FactWire. (2016). China Manufacturer for MTR secretly recalls 35 SMRT subway trains after cracks found.

Retrieved September 25, 2016 from https://www.factwire.news/en/MTR-securetly-recall.html 

Land Transport Authority. (2016). Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=0f8b1220-0289-4bef-99c9-b2455f17a66c#_ftn1

Lim, K. (2016). Going public on train cracks could have caused undue panic: Khaw. CNA News.

Retrieved September 25, 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/going-public-on-train/2950576.html

Lim, K and Siong, O. (2016). Defects on SMRT trains 'not safety-critical', to be repaired by manufacturer: LTA. CNA News. Retrieved September 25, 2016 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/defects-on-smrt-trains/2931802.html

3 Things To Improve For The Trimester

1)  I have to check thoroughly to ensure minimal or zero grammatical error.

2)  I have to work on my sentence structure to prevent faulty parallelism.

3)  I have to ensure my verb tenses are used correctly.

Summary & Thesis On Article

In the following article, “Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service”, Land Transport Authority (2016) addresses the problems that it faced in regards to the North-South and East-West lines trains. It also states the actions taken to resolve the problems and how trains were subjected to tests to ensure their safeness and reliability. The webpage mentioned that complications were found on trains whereby the battery housing flew open due to pressure. Not only that, cracks were also found on the draughtscreen of five trains which were due to errors during the installation process. However, operations of train services were not affected as these problems were rectified immediately. LTA reported that hairline cracks were also found on 26 of the train’s car-body shell which was caused during production period. As it is impossible to repair the cracks, affected trains that were under warranty were sent back for replacement of parts at no costs. With a view to complete the rectification programme, LTA expressed that they will send two trains at a time for servicing. Nevertheless, this is dependent on the arrival of new trains along with the current ones which are undergoing resignalling. Lastly, in order to ensure the safety and efficiency of the services, LTA concluded that they will work closely with the contractors and SMRT. However, there is some lack of information regarding the hairline cracks. As to why more than half of the trains were found with the cracks in just a routine check, whether there is any level of severity to be considered a hairline crack. How will they prevent or minimize it, and understanding that even with the crack, it is still fit and safe to operate, so why do we need to replace it.

Trains on the North-South and East West Lines Safe for Service. (2016). Retrieved September 20, 2016. https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=0f8b1220-0289-4bef-99c9-b2455f17a66c#_ftn1

My English Language Learning Journey

English has always been a challenge to me as growing up in a Chinese-speaking family. I have had no interest in it. As a result, my grades during my Secondary school days were extremely poor, to the extent of failing my ‘O’ Level English. Even then, I never thought about considered improving it, as I felt it wasn’t important at all.

It wasn’t till I joined Republic Polytechnic. The requirement of presenting and doing reflection journal every day came as a culture shock. I was terrified as I’m afraid the slides I made was were insufficient to get my points across, or when someone question me how I came to that conclusion I couldn’t explain myself well, to a point where my teammates would explain for me instead. The inability to write in simple sentence structure properly along with a limited vocabulary and multiple grammar mistakes I tend to make; reflection journal became a nightmare.

It was a wake up call for me to improve my English. I started seeking help from my classmates, not just on how to explain or write it but understand why is it done that way. Certain modules such as Cognitive also helped me in some way as I learn learnt how to write in proper sentence structure structures, how to rephrase sentences when needed and how I should improve my communication.

Upon graduation, I am glad that I felt my English has improved throughout the years in Polytechnic. It became easier for me to come up with my own slides and explain it myself when needed. , and Communicating with others in English wasn’t as difficult as it was before. Nevertheless, it is still a work in process progress as I hope to further improve myself through other ways. 


Revised on Sunday, 18/09/2016.

Commented on Zainab's, Keith's, and Lin Feng's posts. 

Formal E-Mail

Dear Brad,

I’m Daryl Tan from your Effective Communication SIE 2016 Group 5. The purpose of this letter is to briefly introduce myself, my educational background, goals in SIT and aims for future.

Previously I studied at ITE College West under the course Mechatronics Engineering, where I got to learn both mechanical and electronics, and graduated with a Higher NITEC certificate. After which I continued my studies at Republic Polytechnic and graduated with a diploma in Industrial and Operations Management. Both of which are very different as in ITE, it would be more hands on, sawing and drilling, making circuit board whereas in Polytechnic I learn more about operation planning, distribution and transportation and more. In Republic Polytechnic, it has a unique style of teaching where we are required to present a PowerPoint of what we’ve learnt and done daily in teams as well as a daily reflection.

My interests would include spending time with my family, hanging out, cycling, playing bowling, watching movies; and puzzle games like Sudoku and Monument Valley. Family is always important and being able to spend time with them is always a blessing My family has always been important to me, and being able to spend time with them is a blessing. As for puzzle games, it helps to improve problem- solving skills and keeps the mind active.

My goals for studying in this SIT Programme are to strengthen my communication skill, improve the technical skills I had learned, learn other skills expertise, and most importantly things I can be specialized in which will aid me for my future career. I’ll be eagerly anticipating for any chance to work in a well-established organization, such as Land Transport Authority (LTA), where I can utilise my skills to improve the needs of others and help to make a better future.

Lastly, thank you for taking some time out to read this email and I’m looking forward to more of your lesson as I learn more ways to improve my communication skill!

Sincerely,

Daryl Tan

Revised on Sunday, 18/09/2016.