Singapore, 17 June 2019

Joint News Release: Furthering Collaborative Efforts to Improve Rail Maintenance Capabilities

SBS Transit (SBST), SMRT Trains and ST Engineering today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster greater knowledge-sharing and grow local rail maintenance and engineering capabilities.

2. Under the MOU, the parties will share engineering knowledge and capabilities in various areas with each other to add depth and breadth to their maintenance and engineering expertise.

Building up expertise for electronic card maintenance
3. One of the areas for collaboration is in electronic cards as they are critical components of our MRT trains and signalling systems. To reduce the incidences of faults and decrease the down-time for repair work, our local companies must have deep understanding and maintenance expertise of these various systems.

4. The MOU will facilitate efforts to improve local capabilities in electronic card repair and diagnostic support, which will in turn contribute to better rail reliability. As part of the three-year agreement, the three companies are free to explore other areas for collaboration.

5. Mr Leong Yim Sing, SBST’s Head of Rail, said: "This MOU will further deepen our capabilities in rail engineering and maintenance as well as allow us to leverage on each other's strengths and experiences to develop innovative solutions to improve rail reliability and performance.”

6. Said Chief Executive Officer of SMRT Trains, Mr Lee Ling Wee: “SMRT first set up the Integrated Electronics Workshop in 2011 to diagnose, maintain and repair rail electronics cards and components. This MOU underscores SMRT’s intent to further strengthen our engineering capabilities and improve our rail reliability. This collaboration will enable us to synergise the expertise, resources and new technologies of our partners in a cost-effective manner.”

7. Mr Tan Peng Kuan, President, Commercial Business, Land Systems, ST Engineering said: “We are excited to bring to the table our expertise from the Land Systems and Electronics sectors and contribute in the area of rail electronics, advanced diagnostics and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) to deliver reliable in-country support for rail operators.”

8. The MOU was signed by Mr Leong Yim Sing, Senior Vice President, Head of Rail, SBST; Mr Lee Ling Wee, Chief Executive Officer, SMRT Trains; Mr Tan Peng Kuan, President, Commercial Business, Land Systems, ST Engineering and Mr Yong Thiam Chong, President (Mobility), Electronics, ST Engineering.