Workers who maintain SMRT trains are to receive skills training under an agreement signed yesterday, in a move that will help improve the reliability of Singapore's rail network.
It is part of a collaboration to raise the skills, over three years, of about 100 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which provide services to SMRT.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) for this pilot programme was signed by SMRT, Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).
They did so at SIT's second Applied Learning Conference held at Marina Bay Sands and attended by Education Minister Ong Ye Kung.
The MOU will help pave the way for the SMEs to not only help improve rail reliability but also drive innovation and productivity improvements across the land transport sector, said SMRT and SIT in a statement.
SIT and SMRT will co-develop the training curricula, with support from SSG.
SMRT will also help its SME partners to identify skills gaps and recommend appropriate training.
Mr Lee Ling Wee, chief executive of SMRT Trains, said: "With Singapore's rail network set to increase to 360km by 2030, from about 230km currently, there is a need to build a pool of local talent for the growing rail industry."
He added: "This MOU also encourages our partners to train and work with us to continuously deepen operations and maintenance expertise in our rail industry."
SMRT employee Lim Chek Boon said: "Workplace learning has been very helpful as it allowed me to analyse and efficiently solve technical problems.
"The knowledge I acquired helped me to create short videos on maintenance work for my colleagues' e-learning."
Mr Lim, who was in a programme to hone his technical skills last year, added: "This partnership will give our partners and us more opportunities to share know-how and learn from each other."