Five-member independent panel appointed to advise Singapore's rail reliability task force
The advisory panel comprises rail experts from around the region.
Commuters at Farrer Park MRT station after a power fault led to a disruption of train services on the North East Line on Aug 12, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)
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SINGAPORE: The rail reliability task force that was formed to address recent service disruptions has appointed a five-member independent advisory panel with experts from around the region.
They include people with experience at Hong Kong's MTR Corporation, the Guangzhou Metro Group and train manufacturer Thales.
The rail reliability task force comprises the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and train operators SMRT and SBS Transit. It will report its findings to Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow regularly and submit its final recommendations by the end of the year.
In a media release on Monday (Oct 6), LTA, SMRT and SBS Transit said the panel will provide strategic guidance, technical expertise and insights.
The five members are "seasoned leaders" who have held key engineering and management roles in the rail sector around the world, they noted.
"Their combined experience covers critical areas such as the operations, management, and maintenance of core rail systems – expertise essential to ensuring a safe, efficient and reliable rail network," they added.
The five members are:
Dr Tony Lee Kar Yun
Dr Lee has extensive experience in rolling stock, operations and maintenance, said LTA and the train operators.
He is currently a fellow member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and holds the Professorship at Beijing Jiaotong University.
Dr Lee was formerly the operations and innovation director at Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway. He managed and oversaw the railway-related asset performance and management, railway projects operations planning and development, operations safety and quality.
Patrick Bauchart
Mr Bauchart specialises in signalling and transport technology.
As Thales' former vice president of urban rail signalling in Asia, he was involved in major metro projects around the world, including France, Thailand and Singapore.
Dr Cai Chang Jun
Dr Cai's expertise is in operations and maintenance.
He currently holds the vice chairmanship at China's National Engineering Research Centre for System Safety and Operation Assurance of Urban Rail Transit.
He was also deputy general manager of the Guangzhou Metro Group from January 2017 to August 2025, and he oversaw the metro and intercity railway operations management, electrical systems, security inspection systems, new line construction and vehicle equipment business.
Professor Tsay Huel-Sheng
Prof Tsay also specialises in operations and maintenance.
He is an advisory member of the National Transportation Safety Board of Taiwan and has held the positions of chairman and president of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation.
He was also the director general of Taipei's Department of Rapid Transit Systems.
Mr Kon Shinichiro
Mr Shinichiro focuses on power supply systems.
He is currently the managing executive director of Meidensha Corporation Japan. The company has been providing the power supply systems for Japan's Shinkansen and metro system, as well as for mass rapid transit systems in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
He was previously the managing director of Meiden Singapore and was involved in various Singapore MRT projects between 2009 and 2014 as a design engineer and manager of the power supply system.
