SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — So a train broke down on Thursday. Actually, more than one. Services on the North East line of the MRT were disrupted for more than nine hours on account of a power fault leaving close to 20,000 commuters to find alternative transport.   

Now in most parts of the world, train delays aren’t major news. In Singapore though we were treated to news updates of the stranded passengers, blog posts, tweets and a string of online reports describing the ordeal of students forced to miss their morning classes (they probably weren’t all that unhappy), and workers worried about missing their shifts (they were, I am sure quite, irate). 

To an outsider this might seem like proof positive of the Singapore bubble. A people so cosseted that a train delay is treated like a national calamity — but there’s more to it than that.  Singapore’s MRT — MassRapid Transport system, has long been the island’s pride and joy.

Delays on the North-South Line saw crowds at Khatib MRT Station on Thursday. — Photo: @mecattsumori on Twitter

Launched in 1988, a working underground (and over-ground) transport system sealed the nation’s accession to developed world status. And it wasn’t just a metro —  it was, and would soon be widely recognised as, the best metro in the world; squeaky clean, unfailingly punctual, inexpensive.

It was living, rolling, proof of the Singapore model — success through discipline, authoritarianism and genuinely excellent planning. The government and the people really took pride in the system which is probably why the MRT’s slew of recent failures have had such an effect on the Singaporean psyche.

Taken in isolation Thursday’s delay — on a single line, isn’t a major incident, but the last few months have seen delays, from 15-minute breakdowns, to several hour-long dramas involving  trains stranded between stations, become increasingly frequent. 

While the situation overall is still fair, even good, compared to many other Metros it’s a far cry from the halcyon days when these things just did not happen.     

And delays aren’t the only problem facing the once show piece system. I don’t think there is a single regular rush hour MRT user who hasn’t, at some stage, had to wait for two or even three trains to pass before finding room to squeeze into the carriage. That’s not in order to get a seat — that’s just to physically find the space to wriggle in. 

Honestly, while I’m no expert, a bit of travel and some online research leads me to suspect that the MRT,  once arguably the best in the world, would now struggle to make a well researched top 10 of transit systems worldwide — the overcrowding alone makes sure of that. 

While a staunch defender of the MRT might argue that its low prices (S$1.50 or about RM3.80 on average per journey compared to say S$6 in London) still makes it a competitive system – this arguably is actually something of an illusion as the extraordinary cost of owning a vehicle in Singapore leaves commuters without any alternative.

And it’s not just systems in Europe, even among our East Asian and Newly Industrialised peers — Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong — the MRT is increasingly a laggard.  Its passengers are being treated to declining standards even as fares increase and the companies that operate the system (SBS, SMRT) announce sizable profits (SMRT made S$100 million in 2012). This cuts to the heart of MRT’s current woes — privatisation. 

The government allowed private operators to take over the management of the MRT  system over a decade ago. SBS and SMRT were chosen to run lines and the government promised these operators would increase efficiency and ramp up investment.

However, so far, rail privatisation has delivered largely controversies and the accusation that a public resource — the MRT — is being used to generate private profits.  SBS and SMRT are profitable — however, as with any private company,  their profits rather than being automatically reinvested in the system, go to their investors/ shareholders. 

This is part of an old debate regarding the viability of privatising train services, where the difficulty of creating multiple lines for the same area/route means that private operators hold effective monopolies — allowing them to squeeze consumers for an essential service. 

What’s particularly interesting about the MRT’s privatisation is that despite profits accruing to these private companies large scale expansion and upgrading of the system, new stations, track, rolling stock etc are still being funded by the government. 

It is part of a recurring and tangled nexus between government, private companies and state run funds which leaves ordinary citizens baffled and suspicious. The solution is communication and transparency  — a need for simple explanations of how the current system works and how it really benefits citizens. 

Baseline results will also help. People will be much less interested in who or what is funding MRT expansion if it becomes, once again, the best system in the world  — but if we’ll ever get there again remains to be seen.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.