\n<\/p>\n
On Apr 18, Asia Piling Co, a sub-contractor carrying out contiguous bored piling works for the North\u2013South Corridor project, damaged several fibre-optic cables, of which one was part of a physical connection transmitting to the ETA server.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs designed, data was diverted from the damaged cable to the intact cable in that connection pair,\u201d said Mr Siow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, not all data was successfully sent to the server when the incident first occurred. This resulted in a degradation of the ETA system performance, with only 70 per cent of the expected number of ETA predictions throughout the rest of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ETA system was restored to full functionality after the fibre-optic cable was repaired, he said, adding that LTA\u2019s investigation revealed no other hardware or software malfunctions in the ETA system.<\/p>\n
Mr Siow said that LTA is still investigating why the remaining intact cable did not provide full redundancy for the damaged cable, as required of the vendor.<\/p>\n
Should Asia Piling be found culpable for damaging the fibre network cables, agencies may take legal action and telecommunication companies may also claim damages.<\/p>\n
\u201cContractors are required to comply with the requirements of the relevant utility agencies when working in proximity to their services. For instance, prior to work commencement, contractors must conduct utility mapping and obtain written approval from the utility agencies,\u201d said Mr Siow.<\/p>\n
\u201cLand Transport Authority enforces against noncompliance, which are factored into future tender evaluations.\u201d<\/p>\n
April\u2019s disruption to LTA\u2019s bus ETA system came months after a separate issue in January this year, when a “memory cache build-up”\u00a0in on-board systems prevented buses from transmitting their location data to the central server, causing inaccurate bus timings to be displayed.<\/p>\n
Mr Siow said on Wednesday that last month\u2019s disruption had no relation to January\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n