SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Friday (4 October) that the number of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) available for bidding between November 2024 and January 2025 will rise to 15,834.

This represents a 3.6 per cent increase from the 15,283 available in the current bidding period from August to October.

In the upcoming three months, there will be 6,190 Category A COEs, which are designated for smaller and less powerful cars, as well as electric vehicles (EVs).

This is a notable increase of 5.6 per cent from the 5,864 pieces available in the previous period, translating to 54 more Category A COEs at each tender exercise.

Category B COEs, meant for larger and more powerful cars and EVs, will see their supply rise to 4,060 – a 2 per cent increase from the current 3,980 pieces.

The supply of Open category (Category E) COEs will also increase by 3.6 per cent, going from 1,035 certificates to 1,072.

When combined, the supply of Category B and E COEs represents a total increase of 2.3 per cent, amounting to 117 additional certificates compared to the previous three-month period.

Additionally, the supply of commercial vehicle (Category C) COEs will climb by 8.3 per cent to 1,407 pieces, up from 1,299. This results in an increase of 18 more COEs at each tender exercise. Meanwhile, the number of COEs for motorcycles (Category D) remains unchanged at 3,105 pieces.

The announced COE supply also factors in 3,315 certificates that have been redistributed from identified guaranteed deregistrations.

This includes 1,390 Category A COEs, 1,060 Category B certificates, and 865 motorcycle COEs.

This redistribution practice, initiated from the second tender exercise of May 2023, allows COEs set to expire in the next projected supply peak to be brought forward for allocation.

SINGAPORE: Following the Land Transport Authority’s announcement on Wednesday (2 October) of an investigation into the six-day service disruption on the East-West Line, an Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) has been appointed to review the findings and provide technical advice.

Later that evening, the train operator SMRT also announced that a committee has been established to review the EWL disruption.

In a Facebook post, SMRT stated: “In accordance with SMRT’s internal policy, the SMRT Board has established a committee to review the recent East-West Line incident.”

The committee will be chaired by SMRT Independent Board Member and former Chief Defence Scientist, Mr Quek Gim Pew. Another Independent Board Member, Mr Ng Chin Hwee, former CEO of SIA Engineering Company, will serve as the committee’s Deputy Chairman.

The committee will also include independent panel members.

A third investigation will be led by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau

A third investigation will be conducted by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB), a department within the Ministry of Transport.

This was revealed by Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“TSIB under MOT will also be carrying out an independent safety investigation on the incident. ”

Minister Chee noted that the recent disruption along the East-West Line has affected many commuters and caused substantial damage to the rail infrastructure.

He added that the investigations are expected to be completed in a few months, and the LTA will release its findings to the public.

Earlier, in a statement, the LTA indicated that the investigation will explore multiple aspects to prevent future occurrences of such significant service interruptions.

The investigation is expected to be completed within a few months, and the findings will be made public.

“First, we will investigate the root cause of the axle box failure. LTA’s investigations will include a forensic study into the nature of the axle box failure and identify any other potential contributory factors that led to the incident,” the LTA stated.

The investigation will also review the procedures related to fault detection and incident handling, assessing whether appropriate actions were taken.

Additionally, the LTA will evaluate the service recovery and disruption mitigation efforts to “ascertain the timeliness and comprehensiveness of the responses taken” by train operator SMRT.

To support its inquiries, the LTA will appoint an Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) to review the findings and provide advice on technical matters.

The panel will be chaired by Mr Malcolm Dobell, who brings over 45 years of railway expertise and previously served as the Head of Train Systems for London Underground.

The LTA noted that these experts possess extensive knowledge in rail operations and maintenance, railway engineering, rail system engineering, train design, and material science.