The Pasir Ris rail accident was a train accident that occurred on 22 March 2016, at the track switch near

Pasir Ris MRT station Pasir Ris MRT station is an elevated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the East West line (EWL) in Pasir Ris, Singapore. Situated along Pasir Ris Central adjacent to Pasir Ris Bus Interchange and the White Sands Shopping Mall, it is th ...

Pasir Ris Pasir Ris is a planning area and residential town located in the East Region of Singapore. It is bordered by Tampines and Paya Lebar to the south, Sengkang to the southwest and Changi to the east. The planning area also shares riverine boun ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, on the

East-West MRT Line The East West line (EWL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line operated by SMRT in Singapore, running from Pasir Ris station in the east to Tuas Link station in the west, with an additional branch between Changi Airport and Tan ...

. A C151 train struck two

SMRT Trains SMRT Trains Limited is a rail operator in Singapore and a wholly owned subsidiary of SMRT Corporation. After the privatisation of the MRT operations in 1995, it was originally named Singapore MRT Limited. On 31 December 2001, it was renamed to ...

trainee track workers at around 60 km/h, resulting in their deaths. The two deceased workers were working on a track point machine at that time as part of a team of 15 track personnel. This incident was "the worst train accident" in

Singapore MRT The Mass Rapid Transit system, locally known by the initialism MRT, is a rapid transit system in Singapore and the island country's principal mode of railway transportation. The system commenced operations in November 1987 after two decades of ...

's history. SMRT Trains and one member of SMRT management were charged for violating the Workplace Safety and Health Act that led to this accident, and were fined $400,000 and $55,000 respectively. The SMRT engineer who led the track team at the scene of the accident was dismissed from SMRT Trains and charged with negligence causing death under the

Penal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

. The SMRT engineer was thus jailed for four weeks.

Incident

The incident occurred at 11:10 a.m. on 22 March 2016, when a team of 15 track personnel was deployed to a track switch near Pasir Ris MRT station to investigate a high voltage alarm that indicated a possible track point fault. The team of 15 track workers walked in a single file towards the track point equipment to investigate the problem, and was granted track access. The two deceased workers, Nasrulhudin Majumudin and Muhammad Asyraf Ahmad Buhari, were second and third in the team walking as a file on the sidewalk near the

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

. Both were trainees in SMRT Trains. No

speed restriction Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

or ATC-code restriction was imposed on that section of track and there was no railway watchman to warn train captains of the presence of workers on track. The train involved, trainset 073/074 (a

Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 The Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 is the first generation electric multiple unit (EMU) rolling stock in operation on the North South and East West lines of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, manufactured by a consortium led by Kawa ...

), was operated in automatic mode under Westinghouse ATC and maintained a speed of 60 km/h. The two deceased personnel, one supervisor, and at least one more track worker crossed over the third rail and onto the track to access the signaling equipment. A senior officer in the team then noticed the train and yelled "Train is coming! The train is coming!". Members of the team tried to jump back into the sidewalk to seek refuge. The train driver noticed the track workers and applied the emergency brakes. However, the train struck both Nasrulhudin and Muhammad Asyraf. Nasrulhudin was crushed under the train, while Muhammad Asyraf was impacted by the train. Both personnel suffered multiple injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. Service between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris was suspended as a result for 2.5 hours, affecting 10,000 commuters.

Investigation

Investigations by SMRT revealed that there was no request to impose the safety code before the inspection team went on track to investigate the high voltage alarm. The engineer did not liaise with the duty station manager on when to impose the safety code and hence did not impose the safety code before the team was supposed to leave the station platform. The inspection team walked to the work site instead of taking a designated train to send them there. A standard printed sign to warn train drivers that there are works in progress was not displayed but a handwritten sign was displayed with no indication of personnel working on track ahead.

Aftermath

After an internal investigation, SMRT dismissed both the engineer who led the track team and the train driver involved at the scene of the accident. The sacking of both employees attracted online controversy, with Singaporeans on social media questioning whether it was fair to dismiss the train driver. The engineer who led the inspection team was charged with negligence causing death under the

and was subsequently jailed for four weeks. SMRT Trains and one member of SMRT management were then charged for violating the Workplace Safety and Health Act that led to this accident, and were fined $400,000 and $55,000 respectively.

References

{{coord missing, Singapore 2016 in Singapore Accidents and incidents involving Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) Rail accidents and incidents in Singapore 2016 disasters in Singapore