A toy train set named Downtown Line

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Downtown Line operator SBS Transit yesterday gave more details of how a child passenger could have activated a detrainment switch that triggered a power cut which disrupted the newly opened line on Friday.
(All I want for Christmas is a train set like this!)

A spokesman said preliminary findings showed that "the internal laminate of the metal cover which holds the detrainment door switch had debonded".
(Debonded. Detrainment. The latest words from incompetently managed public service organisations to cover their tracks).

This, she said, caused the cover to be loosened.
(So, which cartoon company designed this child-play mechanism that terrorists no longer have to attend classes on how to stop train systems?)

"When the cover was moved, the detrainment switch was triggered," she said. As a safety precaution, power is cut off when the switch - which lowers a ramp for emergency evacuation - is activated.
(Impressive! No tools required for a train-stopping and heart-stopping experience!)

SBS Transit said closed-circuit television footage showed a little girl may have caused this. It declined to share the footage.
(What was the word that's always used, again? Transparency? Or was there something else even more incriminating?)

Friday's incident disrupted the Downtown Line service for more than an hour from about 9pm. It was the second breakdown in six days, after a train fault disrupted service for 15 minutes last Sunday - its first day of operation.
(The reporter must have forgotten - the word is "disruption", not breakdown. Anyway, the PM did promise us that there will be the occasional disruptions).

Bombardier, the manufacturer of the trains used on the Downtown Line, said the scenario painted by SBS Transit was unlikely to occur when the train was moving but said it would need to look at the video footage to understand what happened.
(Hmmmm. One situation, two scenarios. He say, I say. Some people call this monkey business).

Bombardier senior engineering manager Paramjit Singh told The Sunday Times that lifting the detrainment switch cover would cut power only if the train was stationary between stations.
(But Mr Singh, the train was stopped while moving leh. So which is which now?)

"And only when power is cut can you move the detrainment switch," he said.
(Mr Singh, better have a chat with the train operators!)

Netizens have questioned the cause of the breakdown. Commenting on Facebook, Charlton Gan asked: "Why is the device so easily accessed by the kid in the first place?"
(Those goddam netizens again. Why can't they be just plain citizens? Yakult won't want us the read the wrong things, in the wrong platforms. Or was the system developed such that in an emergency, even a child can stop a train?)

Another, Neo Eng Hin, asked how the system could be "so fragile and sensitive".
(Aiyah, like one-week old babies, the system is understandably fragile and sensitive mah).

SBS Transit said it has since "enhanced the cover for a tighter fit" on all its Downtown Line trains. It has also stationed staff at both ends of trains to prevent a repeat of the incident.
(Hurray for the great Productivity Movement. Now they need to hire two more staff, one at each end of the train. Wonder what Zorro has got to say, when he takes a break from stealing toothpicks from restaurants).

Its senior vice-president for corporate communications Tammy Tan said the company was working with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to review the design of the detrainment device.
(Excuse me, Tammy. Isn't it the responsibility of the Bombardstic company to look into this basic element of train development and the system is under warranty? Yes/No?) And the LTA? What do they know? Like the difference between a nut and a screw?)

In a separate statement, the LTA, which oversaw the construction of the line and the procurement of its trains, and which also regulates train operators, said it would take a closer look at the incident and identify appropriate measures to prevent a recurrence.
(Three cheers again, for the LTA - the LATER THEN ALTER authority. They truly are masters in rectifying wrongs, never mind they can never get it correct in the first place).

What do you think?


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