Reader Response Draft 2

In the article “Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR rail system” , Lee Min Kok (2015) reported about the World’s most profitable system MTR Corporation. With high train frequency, passengers rarely experience delay even during peak hours. Lee mentions that a small percentage of passengers in Hong Kong (0.1%) encounter delays as compared to Singapore (4%). Investments of over HK$6 billion have been made on high maintenance and service improvements which kept the system operating efficiently together. The preserving, restoration and service enhancement on train system takes up about a third of MTRC's funds. Lastly, the system is being controlled by an Operation Control Centre to prevent any shortcomings and reacting to downtime efficiently with the use of the black “incident box”.  It is agreeable that Singapore has much to improve on its MRT system. While it may be beneficial for Singapore to learn the ropes from Hong Kong, it is unfair to solely use Hong Kong’s MTR system as a benchmark due to the vast differences in factors such as population and land area.   

These days, large organizations turn to benchmarking to help improve their overall performances through identifying improvement opportunities, defining best practices, and creating a competitive environment within the organization. By identifying improvement opportunities, an organization can have a clearer view on what can and needs be done better, hence allowing it to better define their practices for optimal results. In this case, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan had “identified the MTR, which is run by the MTR Corporation, as the system that local rail operators SMRT and SBS Transit should use to benchmark reliability standards.” As of late, Singapore has been experiencing quite a number of train disruptions due to train faults that would often result in delays of up to one hour. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s MTR system “enjoys an on-time rate of 99.9 %” and passengers experience a delay of at least five minutes every 300,000km travelled as reported by Lee (2015).  Hence, using Hong Kong as a benchmark would push local rail operators to seek and define best practices to cater to the needs of Singaporeans which would result in an increase in satisfaction. However, though local transport operators should view Hong Kong's MTR as a prime example and use it as a benchmark to a certain extent, it is important to take into account the varying factors.

As of today, Hong Kong stands at 7.347 million in population while Singapore stands at 5.607 million. This vast difference in population is one of the factors as to why it is unfair and inaccurate to use solely use the MTR system as a benchmark for Singapore’s local train operators. Being more densely populated than Singapore, Hong Kong’s MTRC spent over HK$6 billion (S$1.08 billion), or 37 per cent of its revenue on maintenance, renewals and service improvements while SMRT only invested S$121.9 million. Though it is true that Singapore had under-invested in rail maintenance, it is understandable as to why the MTRC invested way more than what SMRT did. Having a larger population would mean that shorter train intervals are needed to accommodate to passengers. This would mean heavier wear and tear of train parts, railway tracks and signalling sensors. Hence, it is understandable as to why MTRC invests more than SMRT.

Another factor would be vast difference in land area and landscape. To put things into perspective, Hong Kong has a land area of 2,754 km² while Singapore has a land area of 719.1 km². In addition, being a heavily urbanized city-state, Singapore’s urban landscape is relatively flat as compared to that of Hong Kong’s, which comprises of upland countryside landscapes, lowland countryside landscapes, rural fringe landscapes, and so on. Because of these differences in land area and landscape, it is no wonder so much money is being put into maintenance of rail by MTRC.

In conclusion, I do agree that Singapore has much to improve on its MRT system, and learning certain methodology or practices from the MTRC system may be beneficial. However, it would be inaccurate and unfair to solely use Hong Kong’s MTRC system as a benchmark for local train operators as what may work for Hong Kong may not necessarily work for Singapore.

References: 

Kok, L. M. (2016, January 19). Dubbed 'the best in class': 6 things about Hong Kong's MTR rail system. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/dubbed-the-best-in-class-6-things-about-hong-kongs-mtr-rail-system#xtor=CS1-10