Carry out full maintenace of NS and EW line by sections

I have a solution on how to fix the problems in the NS and EW line.

This is what I would do, if I were the transport minister or CEO of SMRT.

I would close one section of the line acomprising of about 4 km at a time. This will comprise of 3 stations, say A, B and C.

I would provide bus service to take passengers from A to B to C and from C to B to A.

This will allow the 4 km of rail to be inspected, checked and tested. As the section is closed, the technical staff can check the rail, sensors, cables and other devices thoroughly and replace the faulty items. After that, the entire system for this stretch is fully tested.

I would not move to the next section, comparising of three stations, say C, D and E.

I expect that each section will take 1 week to complete.

There are a total of 51 stations in both line. This will take 26 weeks or half a year to complete.

If it requires 2 weeks to carry out the work for 1 section, it would take 1 year to complete.

It may be inconvenient for the passengers to transfer from the train to a bus and to transfer back to the train, after bypassing the section under maintenace. But this inconvenience can be tolerated.

Some passengers may change to other lines and connections, instead of taking the shuttle bus. It is an option for them.

I expect 100 buses to be sufficient to provide the shuttle service to carry passengers to bypass the section under maintenance.

I think that this method may work. If I were the transport minister or the CEO of SMRT, I will try this approach.

Do you agree with me?

Tan Kin Lian