地铁瘫痪的延伸

大选近在眼眉，交通部长吕德耀宣布不参选。吕德耀的辞职信与总理接受他辞职的回函都在同一日，使到“吕德耀事件”更加扑朔迷离，各方都在揣测背后的含义。

海峡时报（2015年8月14日）报道了跟吕德耀的相关访谈。

即将卸任的吕德耀无官一身轻，言谈间格外轻松，表示关于他辞职一事，网民似乎在为他吊唁，只是少了鲜花。此外，他也谈到地铁故障的问题。

吕德耀不认同行驶了这么多年的地铁系统存在着设计问题。地铁南北线和东西线都已经运行了20多年，该出现的设计问题都早该出现了，因此以今天的科技来评估当年的设计有缺陷是不正确的。我们应该做的是投入资源，提升系统，与时并进。

吕德耀终于公开同意地铁维修体系出现问题，许多环节上都有待加强。他不同意地铁业者的说法，必须花更长的时间来维修，意味着会影响正常运作。香港地铁（MTR）的承载量与运行时间都比新加坡有过之而无不及，但他们懂得如何集中资源，运用资源，因此MTR非常可靠。我们有许多可以学习的地方。

吕德耀认为7月7日的地铁大瘫痪绝对可以避免。

（地铁瘫痪后，地铁站内挤满人潮。图片来源：Straits Times, Jul 8, 2015）

我曾在相对复杂的工程领域里头奉献了宝贵的青春，在设计与维修体系上打滚多年，数年前才决定离开这块园地。跟吕德耀最肩并肩工作过，几乎朝夕相对的，是2003年1月3日海军战舰“英勇号”（RSS Courageous）跟商船相撞，四名年轻的女军人丧命那一段日子。

当时除了安排打捞工作，把掉入白礁水域的船尾捞起来外，我也对军舰的残骸进行研究，分析意外发生的经过。吕德耀作为海军总长，表现得相当开明，该接受的他都接受了。

吕德耀当交通部长后，似乎言不达意。这次终于说出肺腑之言，我为吕德耀讲真话的诚意而鼓掌，他终于展现出有良知的政治家应有的风范，做回自己。

不过从“吕德耀事件”，我也觉得深感遗憾，因为不论是建党（PAP）的元老杜进才、公务员首长严崇涛、或者即将在PAP的旗帜下结束政治生涯的吕德耀，在任期间都很忠心地维护党政集权的政治生态，只有成为后座议员或者离开政治生涯时才摇身一变，视觉听觉都突然间变得清晰，认同民间的声音。

这个现象凸显了地毯下更深一层的问题，我们身为局外人只看到冰山一角，冰山下深海中的危机只有在撞击下才会浮台。当年号称永远不会沉没的铁达尼号就是被冰山击沉的，吕德耀是否掀开了冰山的序幕？相信答案很快就会知晓。

海峡时报的报道摘要（Straits Times, Aug 14, 2015）： A lot more needs to be done to improve the maintenance regime of Singapore's train system, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said. But this should not translate into shutting down the system during operating hours to get the work done, he said in an interview with The Straits Times. Asked if increased maintenance would mean more halts to services during operating hours, as operators have complained they have only a small window every night to complete maintenance, Mr Lui said: "I don't necessarily agree that they must have more prolonged shutdowns of the system in order to be able to do what must be done." The way to intensify the maintenance is through a proper allocation of manpower resources and better use of technology, he said. Pointing to Hong Kong's MTR system, to which the Singapore system is often compared, Mr Lui said it is run as intensively as Singapore's and yet, during their graveyard shift, there is a "massive mobilisation" effort. "We are not yet at that level," he said. Calling for a change in the maintenance roster of Singapore's public transport operators, Mr Lui said more could be done to better deploy manpower in the graveyard shift. Technology should also be used more, particularly to monitor the system's condition. It would make maintenance tasks more achievable and manageable, he said. "To say that design issues come up after 20, 25 years, well, I would say that if people have progressed to a better and improved design, then they ought to have kept up," he said. Mr Lui said he did not believe major breakdowns like those of July 7 affecting two key lines cannot be prevented with enhanced maintenance. But, he added: "Setbacks are an opportunity for us to really put in even more effort and hopefully do better over time."

相关链接

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