LTA – How safe are our ‘CSR Qingdao Sifang’ trains?

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LTA – How safe are our ‘CSR Qingdao Sifang’ trains?

May 30th, 2014 | Author: Contributions

In Today newspaper, it was stated The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract worth about S$749 million for the purchase of 91 new four-car trains for the Thomson and Eastern Region lines.
The contract was awarded to a consortium comprising Kawasaki Heavy Industries, its Singapore affiliate, and CSR Qingdao Sifang. Kawasaki Heavy Industries is responsible for the overall train design and CSR Qingdao Sifang will handle the production of the train body shell and the final assembly.
I would like to point out that CSR Sifang Qingdao Sifang Beihai is also in the asbestos making business. [Link]
A case in point is that of Andy Dodds, the Assistant General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) in the 1980s. After he retired, Mr. Dodds contracted an asbestos-related disease, probably due to his exposure to asbestos whilst working in the locomotives’ shed in Scotland. The RMT brought a successful legal claim on behalf of his widow. Recent asbestos cases brought by trade unions on behalf of asbestos-injured railway workers or their surviving family members include:
• Mr. Beadsworth died of asbestos-related lung cancer (2005); he was exposed to asbestos during the 43 years he worked as a coach fitter at the Locomotive Works in Derby.
• Derrick Lambert died from mesothelioma (2005); he worked for British Rail at their Wolverton depot for 48 years first as an apprentice and then as a qualified coach trimmer fitting out old railway carriages. He was exposed to asbestos used for fireproofing upholstery and lagging carriages. The RMT brought and won his case for compensation.
So how safe are our trains? Is LTA able to confirm that asbestos is not present or used in the manufacture of these carriages?

TAN LAW

* Submitted by TRE reader.


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