Thai teen's lawsuit: Preventing falls 'not main reason for MRT doors'

Platform doors were fitted at all MRT stations to stop people deliberately intruding onto the line, a design expert told the Nitcharee Peneakchanasak trial on Thursday.

Mr Andrew John Mead said the primary aim was not to prevent falls, like the one that cost Thai teenager Nitcharee both legs. Instead, it was to solve the problem of "track intrusions", which had gone up in the years leading to the decision to fit the doors.

Such intrusions led to service disruptions, inconveniencing thousands of people, said Mr Mead, principal design manager for the architecture division of the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

"With ridership increasing, and intensive use of the rail system, the cost of delays would increase," he added. "This brought us to a tipping point whereby the doors became effective measures."