Total Pageviews

Friday, August 6, 2010

Roller coaster grounded due to ‘flaw in design’ of cars


Genting Group chairman and chief executive Lim Kok Thay says a “flaw in the design” of a car is causing Universal Studios Singapore's star attraction, the Battlestar Galactica, to be grounded for more than four months.
“The ride is under a major re-design. Not the track itself. It’s a flaw in the design of the car that would not perform to the standards that we wish for it to perform,” he said.
He added that it was their policy to shut down the ride on “grounds of safety, not that there was any mishap or accident”, when signs showed it could have been unsafe after rigorous testing.
Police suspended the roller coaster’s licence on March 25 due to a technical glitch found during a test run.
According to Mr Lim, its closure has not affected visitorship to Resort World Sentosa with crowds still heading to the theme park.
Some people Yahoo! Singapore spoke to are waiting anxiously for the ride to re-open and hope things are sorted out quickly without compromising safety.
“I was looking forward to taking my family there to ride it but it’s still not fixed,” said administrative officer Nur Diana, 28.
Sales executive Andy Tan, 31, felt that the theme park should reduce entrance fees since the main attraction is not running.
He said. “We are paying $72 for a weekend pass but can’t take the Battlestar Galactica. Don’t you think they should compensate visitors for this?”
Another visitor, Jolene Chua, 34, prefers to wait patiently before the green light is given for the rides to operate again.
“It’s better to be safe now than sorry later, so I would prefer them to take their time and make sure everything is fixed before re-opening the rides,” she said.