How Can A Person Fall off The MRT Platform?

A man was found dead on the MRT tracks in Choa Chu Kang station on Monday (07 April, 2008) morning. The man, a Chinese, in his mid-40s was pronounced dead at 8.30am. Train services were disrupted for close to an hour, between Yew Tee and Bukitt Gombak stations, towards Jurong East. Bus services were on hand to ferry stranded commuters between the MRT stations.

It is indeed possible to fall onto the tracks either voluntarily or involuntarily. If a person were to choose an MRT train to be his accomplice in his committing suicide, there would be no way anyone could stop him unless he stupidly tells the whole world his intent. Suicide cases are unpredictable, and is hard to prevent.

Suicide cases aside, there was a case last year in September where a man pushed his girlfriend onto the tracks. (Click here for the story) In this case, the woman was lucky to not be rolled over by the train. To be pushed or shoved on the platform is quite common.

In 'kiasu' Singapore, everyone lines up close to the yellow lines to get the best seats on the train. Just have a look at Boon Lay MRT from 0800 - 0900 every weekday and you'll know why. Everyone stands so close to the yellow lines that if someone were to be mean and push only one person, he would bring along 3 others with him onto the tracks.

To stop these from reoccurring, there are suggestions to install barricades on MRT platforms. Been to Kuala Lumpur? Have you seen those barricades on the Monorail platforms?

Am not too sure whether those barricades serves a purpose as the gaps in between doesn't actually prevent people from falling off. Well, at least that's better than nothing.

How about installing the same barricades you see in the underground stations on above ground ones? Yes that'll work. But there are other costs that comes into play. One significant factor would be air-conditioning to facilitate cooling of the platform. With barricades that cover the whole platform and restricting airflow, the air on the platform area would be stale and choking. Electricity tariffs are already so high, SGs are already complaining about high transport costs, and who would pay for the bills?

Increase the braking distance for the MRT trains so that drivers can react in time? That'll cause even more delays in the train schedule and travel time will increase.

Introduce sensors to detect when someone has fallen off? I saw that as a final-year project at Singapore Polytechnic and I won't deny that it worked. It isn't all fool-proof though as the system can't stop the train in time if the person chooses to jump in front of the MRT. Just imagine stopping a few hundred tonnes of metal + thousand kilos of humans safely in under 3 metres. That's impossible!

How to solve the problem? Oh well, until a solution is to be found, there will be train deaths once in a while. With time, Singaporeans will get used to it. LOLX!