I REFER to the letter 'Commuters again left in the dark after MRT breakdown' by Mr Jason Chiam Chiah Sern (my paper, Jan 23).

I agree with Mr Chiam that riders were not given adequate information about the breakdown.

Unfortunately, he failed to realise that breakdowns can, and do, occur.

His conclusion that SMRT and ComfortDelGro have no support system as such is tantamount to jumping to conclusions.

As we can see from the operator's action in response to the breakdown of the maintenance train on Monday, there is a plan in place, albeit not a very good one.

We must also understand that there is no way the operator can mobilise the general commuters in a simulation of such a breakdown to test the effectiveness of the system.

Comparing train breakdowns and minor delays to the sarin nerve gas attacks in Japan and London train bombings is sensationalist.

Moreover, Mr Chiam also failed to acknowledge that most of the time, we receive excellent service from the operators of our MRT trains.

Two failures in three months is hardly worth a mention, if you consider the standard of public transport in other countries.

Nothing is perfect in this world, least of all mechanical systems.

We should not expect perfection in our systems as machines do malfunction from time to time, just like human beings - we fall sick too.

What we can expect from our train operators, however, is speedy response in emergencies and frequent updates on the situation.

Mr Benjamin Kwek