RECENT online gripes that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) overspent on new platform screen doors for its MRT stations have proven to be far off track.Checks by The Straits Times show that the prices of similar doors overseas are comparable with what the LTA has paid.

Last Tuesday, workers began installing 1.5m-high platform screen doors at the Pasir Ris MRT station. The doors, which will be up at all 36 elevated MRT stations by 2012, will prevent people from falling onto or entering the tracks.

The LTA is spending $126 million on the project - an amount that got online forums in Singapore buzzing.

Several blogs highlighted the fact that platform screen doors were installed on Taipei's new Neihu line, which has 12 stations, for only $10.5 million.

Singapore Technologies Electronics, which was awarded the LTA contract to install the doors, also worked on the Neihu project.

Netizens had questioned why it cost only $875,000 per station to install the doors on the Neihu line, compared to the $3.5 million the LTA is spending at each station here.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the LTA said its project is more expensive because it is installing more doors on the platforms.

The Neihu line has 192 doors on 24 station platforms, while the LTA is installing 1,920 doors on 80 platforms here.

The Straits Times found that the carrying capacity of the Neihu line, which started running last month, is much lower than that of Singapore's MRT lines.

It uses four-car trains that can take more than 400 passengers each. The trains have eight doors on each side.

In contrast, Singapore's MRT trains have six cars each and can take up to 1,600 passengers. Each train has 24 doors on each side.

The LTA also pointed out that it is installing the doors on existing train lines, which is more costly. Extra work like alterations and changes to signalling systems were not necessary in the Neihu project, as the doors were installed before the line started operations, said an LTA spokesman.

Other cities that have installed similar doors on existing train lines have paid amounts comparable with what the Government is spending here.

These lines' carrying capacity is also relatively similar to that of the North-South and East-West lines.

In late 2006, 1.45m-high platform screen doors began operating at six platforms in two metro stations in Taipei as part of a pilot trial. These stations, on the city's Danshui and Nangang lines, have a higher carrying capacity than those on the Neihu line. Six-car trains, similar to those running in Singapore, are used at these stations.

Taipei Metro spent NT$276 million (S$12.1 million) on 144 doors altogether, which works out to be more expensive than what the LTA is paying.

Over in Paris, platform screen doors are going up as well along the city's metro lines 1 and 13.

But Swiss company Kaba is installing 1,992 doors at 57 stations along the two lines at a total cost of 46 million euros (S$94 million), which is cheaper than what the LTA has paid. The Paris project will be completed in 2011.

The cost of platform screen doors is now lower compared to before, as they have become more common worldwide and shown to be feasible, said the LTA.

ghimlay@sph.com.sg

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