North East Line

Following the latest train breakdown last night aloing the North-South Line Transport Minister Mr Lui Tuck Yew posted this statement yesterday on his Facebook:


"There have been a number of train disruptions in recent days. I do not know if these are isolated incidents or whether there are systemic and more serious underlying issues causing these breakdowns."


The statement shows a disturbing inability of the minister to come to grips with reality. First, the train disruptions did not just occur in recent days. They have been happening at an astounding regularity over recent months and years. Some of the key disruptions in the last five years include:


15 Dec 2011: North-South Line between Marina South and Bishan
14 Dec 2011: Circle Line between Marymount and One-North
17 Oct 2011: North-South Line between Ang Mo Kio and Bishan
17 Oct 2011: Circle Line between Labrador Park and Pasir Panjang
14 Oct 2011: East-West Line between Kallang and Bugis
23 Sep 2011: East-West Line betwee City Hall and Pasir Ris
20 Sep 2011: Circle Line between Dhoby Ghaut and Marymount
17 Jun 2009:  North-South Line between Marsiling and Woodlands
30 Dec 2008: East-West-Line between City Hall and Tiong Bahru
21 Jan 2008: East-West Line between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah
24 Jul 2006: North-East Line between Harbour Front and Clarke Quay


These breakdowns have taken place across many months and not days as Mr Lui says. Alarmingly, some of them occurred on the same day or just days apart.


The list above is, of course, not exhaustive. In 2010, there were 28 disruptions to MRT services. The number was 17 as of October this year, and these are just on the North-South and East-West Lines.


If all these breakdowns have not caused him to come to the realisation that there is more to the problem than the odd and isolated incident, then it must be concluded that the Minister does not have a firm handle on his portfolio.


Mr Lui makes another confusing confession in his Facebook post: "We will therefore conduct a thorough health check on our train systems, determine how the faults happened..."


This is to be welcomed. But Mr Lui was assigned the porfolio after the May elections. It has been more than six months since he took charge of the ministry and there have been multiple disruptions before and after he took over the job. It is right to question why he did not see fit to commission a check on the entrire system much earlier.

Channel News Asia

A second MRT disruption in two days – this time along the North-South Line, affecting thousands of evening peak-hour commuters. Train services along both directions of the North-South Line were affected from Marina Bay to Braddell stations on Thursday evening. "Train services between Braddell and Marina Bay MRT stations are disrupted," said a SMRT statement. "Passengers should take alternative modes of transport or the bus bridging service available between Bishan and Marina Bay MRT stations." "Power rail problem" caused the breakdown, said an SMRT spokesperson.
Emergency services were spotted outside MRT stations, and peak-hour traffic was also affected, with traffic congestion reported on Orchard Road between Dhoby Gaut and City Hall MRT stations. Channel NewsAsia understands that limited services for SMRT’s southbound line resumed later in the night. Passengers described scenes of confusion, as they tried to make sense of the situation. Some even used a fire extinguisher to break the windows of a train stuck underground due to lack of ventilation. Channel NewsAsia viewer Nizam Rahim sent in a picture of his wife walking on the track in the tunnel at the Dhoby Gaut station. One commuter, Adam, said he and hundreds of passengers were stuck on the train travelling from Somerset to Orchard. The electricity appeared to have been cut off, as the train was in total darkness. Neither did the air-conditioner seem to be working. Adam said: 

Goh Chee Kong

Extract the above photo from a wall photo at one of my facebook friend, and feel curious on the cylinder head gasket design that it seem not so familiar in local market, after looking into the catalogue and found it seems like for Honda F20C engine, here some extraction from wikipedia.


The F20C and F22C1 are inline-4 engines produced by Honda. They are one of the few Honda 4-cylinder automobile engines that are designed to sit longitudinally for rear wheel drive.


These engines are a distant relative to the F-series engines found in the mid 90s Honda Accord and Prelude. To get most out of the compact sized engine, Honda technicians utilised technology derived from Honda's racing engines. The F20C and F22C1 have two overhead cams with roller followers, a ladder-frame main bearing stiffener, a VTEC system for both the intake and exhaust camshaft, Fiber-Reinforced Metal cylinder liners (FRM), molybdenum disulfide-coated piston skirts for reduced friction, and uses a timing chain.


The VTEC system consists of two separate cam lobe profiles. Variable cam phasing is not used. Roller followers are used to reduce friction in the valvetrain. The rocker arms are constructed using metal injection molding.


The engine block is constructed of aluminum with fiber-reinforced metal sleeve. A timing chain drives an intermediate gear, which drives the cams. The pistons are forged aluminum. The intake plenum was designed with minimal volume for fast engine response, and a 14lb flywheel was fitted until 2003. A high-flow catalyst is supplied along with an exhaust air-injection system, which greatly decreases catalyst light-off time and cold emissions.