[UPDATED] ‘Absurd’ if Prasarana CEO included in LRT probe team: ex-ministry aide

KUALA LUMPUR – The inclusion of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd CEO Datin Norlia Noah in the line-up of the task force probing into last night’s light rail transit collision would have been a puzzling decision, said a former Transport Ministry aide.

Speaking to The Vibes, Chung Yi Fan, former special functions officer to ex-transport minister Anthony Loke, said while a parallel internal investigation within Prasarana may be supervised by the CEO or even its board, Norlia should not be in the government’s investigation team, so as to maintain public confidence, professionalism and independence.

“Can you imagine the CEO of an airline appointed to an independent team conducting an air crash investigation? Absurd.”

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong today announced that the nine-member task force of industry experts will be led by the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Isham Ishak, in preparing a report on their findings two weeks from the date of the incident.

In Wee’s initial Facebook post, Norlia and Land Public Transport Agency director-general Azlan Shah Albakri were among the names listed as task force members.

However, the post was updated later in the day to omit both names.

In a Facebook post, Chung said while Wee duly released preliminary findings on the cause of the light rail transit (LRT) collision, the public should not be hasty in concluding that the train operator (TO) of the empty train was solely responsible for the incident. 

“First, a full investigation is still ongoing. A crucial line of inquiry is to ascertain why TR40, an empty train which was under testing, suffered a failure at Kg Baru. And before that, why was testing conducted during revenue service hour around 8pm (on Monday)?

“I have checked with a number of industry professionals; all of them expressed doubts as to why testing had to be done parallel to revenue service on live track. If testing was carried out after service hours yesterday, the incident could have been avoided.”

Pointing to LRT’s command and control centre, Chung outlined two possible scenarios.

“(Either) the controlling officer gave the right instruction, but the TO did not follow instruction (for reasons yet to be ascertained) or, the controlling officer gave the wrong instruction, hence the TO made the wrong moves.

“TR40 had stalled, which meant the train ran under restrictive mode (RM) without standard communication and signalling protocols. It was ‘blind’.

“The TO was driving in ‘blindness’. Only the officer(s) behind the screen in the control centre had full visibility of the entire system; where each train was, where they were heading and how fast. 

“Did the officer(s) in charge of guiding TR40 safely back to the depot monitor the movement of TR40 and alert the driver when he or she found it went in the wrong direction? When did he find out things went wrong? When the collision happened and it was too late?”

The TO, Chung said, who was the driver tasked with manually operating TR40 and bringing it back to the depot, did not act without instruction.

“He was not the decision-maker who put TR40 into testing on live track during revenue service at 8pm on Monday.

“Yes, he could have driven the train in the wrong direction despite receiving the correct instruction from the control centre,” he said.

“The TO could not have acted without authorisation from a controlling officer operating out of the control centre. The controlling officer has full visibility of all trains in the system and his role is critical to the safe operation of train vehicles under his watch.

“Not unlike the role of an air traffic controller when aircraft take off or land.”

As such, Chung said it is highly unlikely for the TO to be solely blamed for Monday’s incident.

“Why conduct testing during service hours and who authorised it? Was Prasarana under pressure to bring certain train sets back into service?”

Pinning the blame on a fall guy, he said, is the last thing the authorities should allow to happen.

“Get to the bottom of the matter and find out who is really the man or woman in the driver’s seat. Without a complete overhaul in addressing systemic and organisational shortfall, we are bound to fail, again.”

Chung’s response comes after Wee announced that LRT operators involved in the collision have been suspended from their duties. 

Wee said this is pending a full investigation into the incident by a special task force, in line with standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the ministry.

The task force’s report will be ready in 14 days from the day of the incident, which he said he will present to the cabinet, adding that this will help the authorities formulate contingencies to avoid similar incidents in the future. – The Vibes, May 25, 2021