According to a Hong Kong media FactWire, the Singapore government and SMRT corporation have secretly shipped back 35 MRT train carriages back to Qingdao China for replacements and repairs after cracks were found in their bodies and key structural components.
FactWire sources say that the defective trains were stored at SMRT’s Bishan Depot. On 12 June 2016 under the cover of darkness, shortly after 1am, 2 train cars covered with green tarpaulin were moved out of the depot. They were accompanied by traffic marshals and at around 3am, they arrived at Jurong Port for shipping back to China.
In May 2009, LTA awarded the manufacturing contract of these PRC-made trains for a total of $368 million. LTA accepted this 2nd lowest bid from Kawasaki Heavy Industries-CSR Sifang after a "comprehensive" evaluation deemed it to be product of quality.
Sourced from Singapore and China revealed to FactWire that problems have been found with these PRC-made C151A trains since they began service in 2011. The trains were of poor quality and the glass next to passenger seats had on multiple occasions shattered due to poor workmanship. Its power supply batteries had also exploded during repairs. While there were no injuries, CSR Sifang replaced all the made in China batteries with German made ones.
Click on the link below to read full details of this expose.
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