SMRT Corporation

Background

In 1967, city planners forecast a need for a rail-based urban transport system in Singapore by 1992. Initial opposition by prominent ministers, among them Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee and Trades and Industry Minister Tony Tan, nearly shuttered the program due to financial grounds and concerns of jobs saturation in the construction industry. Goh instead endorsed the idea of an all-bus system recommended by Harvard University specialists, who argued would reduce the cost by 50% compared to the proposed MRT system. Public opinion was split on the matter, with several expressing concerns on the high cost and others being more focused on increasing the standard of living. Following a debate on whether a bus-only system would be more cost-effective, Communications Minister Ong Teng Cheong came to the conclusion that an all-bus system would be inadequate, as it would have to compete for road space in a land-scarce country. Ong was an architect and town planner by training and through his perseverance and dedication became the main figure behind the initial construction of the system.

Singapore's MRT infrastructure is built, operated, and managed in accordance with a hybridised quasi-nationalised regulatory framework called the New Rail Financing Framework (NRFF), in which the lines are constructed and the assets owned by the Land Transport Authority, a statutory board of the Government of Singapore.

Mass Rapid Transit Corporation

The Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) was established on 14 October 1983 and took over the roles and responsibilities of the former provisional Mass Rapid Transit Authority. The founding chairman was Michael Fam and the first executive director was Lim Leong Geok.

On 7 November 1987, the MRT Corporation commenced operating service on Singapore's first Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) section, consisting of 5 stations from Yio Chu Kang to Toa Payoh. On 1 September 1995, MRTC, along with Roads & Transportation Division of the Public Works Department and Land Transportation Division of the Ministry of Communications, merged to form the Land Transport Authority. The operations of the MRT system were regrouped under SMRT Limited, as a private state-owned company owned by the government's investment arm Temasek Holdings.