The fire at Newton MRT station on 13 February was caused by a short circuit, which was most likely due to cable insulation issues, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said in Parliament yesterday. Mr Lui was responding to a question from [SMU Assistant Professor of Law and] NMP Eugene Tan, who had asked for the Transport Ministry’s assessment of the emergency response by SMRT and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Assistant Prof Tan also questioned whether the inspection, maintenance and operations requirements of the rail network can be made more robust for the protection of commuters and station staff. In response, Mr Lui said he was awaiting the findings of the investigations into the fire to gauge if improvements to incident management plans are needed.