SBS Transit ruled 100% responsible after woman’s head and neck trapped between NEL train doors

Rail operator SBS Transit was found 100 per cent responsible for an incident that happened at Punggol MRT station in June 2022, where a woman’s head and neck were trapped between train doors when she was alighting from the train.

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According to news outlets ST and CNA, which reported on the Aug 13 judgment that was released on Aug 20, the claimant, Ms Ng Lai Ping, had filed a civil suit against SBS Transit Rail, which operates the North East Line (NEL), for negligence in the Jun 27, 2022, incident.

Ms Ng claimed to have tripped, fallen, and got trapped between train doors for 12 seconds while alighting from the train that was being taken out of service. SBS Transit presented CCTV footage showing that she was trapped, at best, for up to one to two seconds, however.

District Judge Sim Mei Ling found that SBS Transit breached its duty of care to Ms Ng, rejecting the NEL rail operator’s argument that the incident was due to Ms Ng’s own negligence.

The incident at Punggol MRT station

Punggol MRT station platform of the North East Line. (Image: SGTrains File)

According to CNA’s report, Ms Ng boarded the NEL train from Sengkang MRT station, at about 10:35am on Jun 27, 2022, northbound towards Punggol MRT station. She intended to ride the same train that turns back from Punggol MRT station to Little India MRT station.

ST wrote, Ms Ng, who sat in carriage 5 of the six-car-long NEL train, claimed that when the train was travelling to Punggol MRT station, an announcement was played informing passengers that “service had resumed”.

However, CNA reported that SBS Transit said there was no announcement about a service resumption while the train was travelling to Punggol MRT station. ST reported: “There was no elaboration on this in the judgment.”

CNA reported that when the train arrived at Punggol MRT station, Ms Ng stayed seated, along with five other passengers, waiting for the train to resume its journey southbound. Ms Ng was not wearing headphones, and she was not on her mobile phone.

CNA also reported that Ms Ng said she did not hear any platform announcement that the train would be taken out of service. She said she heard only an announcement informing passengers not to board the train at the other platform.

Ms Ng said she did not hear any shouting by any SBS Transit staff member instructing passengers to alight from the train, and there was no staff member with red light batons waving inside and outside of her train.

CNA reported that Ms Ng said no staff member entered her carriage to inform passengers to alight from the train.

Ms Ng mentioned that the carriage lights switched off suddenly and without warning, leaving only the lights above the doors still lit. She then heard beeping sounds coming from the train doors, indicating an impending closing of the train doors.

CNA reported that four passengers on her left suddenly got up and exited the train, followed by the fifth on her far right. ST reported she attempted to also exit the train, and CNA reported she had to bend over and pick up her bag on the train’s floor first.

ST reported that as the train was poorly lit, and CNA reported that the flooring was reflective and grey, Ms Ng tripped while trying to exit the train.

Ms Ng’s face struck the gap between the train and platform, and the platform screen doors and train doors closed on her head and neck. CNA reported that an MRT employee and a passerby came to help her.

SBS Transit’s account of events

The train Ms Ng was on board was intended to be withdrawn from service, said SBS Transit, adding it played an out-of-service announcement in the train and a “do not board” announcement at the station platform.

CNA reported that the announcement at Punggol MRT station would be played continuously at the platform in four languages, at 12-second intervals.

ST wrote that SBS Transit said: “Ms Ng ought to have known from the announcements that she should not remain in the train.”

SBS Transit said that three staff members – a customer service assistant at carriages 2 and 3, and an assistant station manager at carriage 6 – would board the train when it arrived at Punggol MRT station to ensure no passengers boarded the train, CNA reported.

All three staff members will raise their voices to inform passengers to alight from the train, with only two customer service assistants carrying red light batons.

The customer service officer at carriage 1 would inform the operations control centre and request that the train doors be closed so that no passengers can board. The operations control centre personnel would then activate the train’s off-service command.

The train’s off-service command would power off some lights in the train, and the doors would start to close. Then, a customer service officer will walk through the entire train length to ensure no passengers are on board before the train is taken out of service.

CNA wrote that SBS Transit agreed that when the train arrived at Punggol MRT station, none of its staff members entered carriage 5 that day, and the train’s lights also dimmed about 31 seconds after the train doors opened at the station.

Judgment of the civil suit

Judge Sim said she was not able to accept the rate of incidents provided by SBS Transit’s duty operations manager, Mr See Lye Yun, noting the lack of supporting documents produced, CNA reported.

Judge Sim added that when Mr See took the stand, he denied supplying the documents for these figures, claiming he did not even know if they were correct.

Judge Sim said she accepted that the probability of the train doors closing on a passenger during train withdrawal is low, but even if the risk of similar harm was low, this alone was not sufficient to dispose of the claim raised by Ms Ng.

ST reported that Judge Sim noted that SBS Transit had initially six staff members involved in train withdrawal, but the staff count was reduced due to manpower shortages from the pandemic. Judge Sim did not find it unreasonable to deploy four staff members.

SBS Transit also did not call the two staff members, including the staff member present in carriage 5, as witnesses to testify in the case, to which Judge Sim drew an adverse inference against the rail operator.

Judge Sim noted that it was likely that SBS Transit played the resumption in service announcement instead of one that says the train was being taken out of service, considering the other five passengers stayed seated and only left when the train’s lights dimmed.

CNA wrote that Judge Sim said it was unlikely that all six passengers in carriage 5 missed hearing the out-of-service announcement in four languages.

Judge Sim found that SBS Transit had “more likely than not” played the resumption-in-service announcement instead of the out-of-service announcement.

The judge also found that SBS Transit failed to play the do not board announcement at the Punggol MRT station platform where Ms Ng’s train was.

CNA reported that Judge Sim found SBS Transit had breached its duty of care.

SBS Transit failed to provide any warning, notification or announcement to passengers before switching the train’s lights off, and also failed to exercise reasonable care, skill, and prudence in operating the train with passengers inside.

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Related Links
North East Line – SGTrains

External Links
Woman trapped between train doors: Judge rules SBS Transit ‘100% responsible’ – ST
SBS Transit found 100% responsible for train incident that trapped passenger’s head and neck between doors – CNA

Images: SGTrains File.
This article first appeared on SGTrains.