Investigations underway after 3 Thomson-East Coast Line disruptions in a week

SINGAPORE: Transport operator SMRT, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and French train maker Alstom are investigating the three disruptions which hit the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) in a week.

Engineers are looking into the root causes of the incidents on Dec 27, Dec 29 and Jan 2, SMRT said in a Facebook post late on Friday (Jan 3), adding that all three delays were unrelated.

A signalling fault had caused the earliest disruption and as a result, "multiple trains received stop commands and had to be manually driven at 18kph after system resets", it said.

The "intermittent stoppages" on Dec 27 had spanned over 2.5 hours and caused a delay of up to 15 minutes.

On the Dec 29 incident, SMRT said it involved a train experiencing "intermittent brake faults" as it departed a station.

This led to a 15-minute delay for commuters travelling from Bayshore to Woodlands North as trains had to move slower.

"In line with safety protocols, the train was manually operated at 18kph," SMRT added. "The fault cleared automatically, allowing regular train services to resume shortly after."

According to SMRT, preliminary findings suggest a possible component fault within the train.

With regards to the Jan 2 incident, SMRT said a train had triggered the emergency brake system as it approached Orchard MRT station, requiring manual operation.

Commuters were then advised to factor in an additional 10 minutes for their trip between Caldecott and Bayshore MRT stations due to a train fault. The fault was cleared within 30 minutes.

Investigations into the root cause of the incident are ongoing, SMRT added, noting that train services continued operating in both directions during all three incidents.

A separate probe into the disruption of train services, which occurred over six days last September, on the East-West Line between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations is currently ongoing.

Those investigations are expected to be completed in a few months, LTA said in October.

The fourth stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL4) - comprising Marine Parade, Tanjong Rhu, Katong Park, Tanjong Katong, Marine Terrace, Siglap and Bayshore stations - opened last June.

The fifth stage of the line – connecting Bayshore and Sungei Bedok – will be completed by 2026, while an extension to connect the TEL to Changi Airport will be completed in the mid-2030s, together with the opening of Terminal 5.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/mrt-tel-train-disruption-delay-investigations-fault-4837916

Thomson-East Coast Line commuters face delays on 19 Dec morning due to signal fault

SINGAPORE: Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) commuters faced service delays on 19 December during the morning peak hour due to a signal fault.

An initial update on the SGTrains website reported the delay at 9.54am.

SMRT later confirmed the fault, advising commuters to add 10 minutes to their travel time between Bayshore and Woodlands North stations in both directions.

In an X post at 9.38am, SMRT stated:”Please allow for an additional 10 mins travel time between Bayshore and Woodlands North in both directions due to a signal fault.”

Commuters in the comments section highlighted frustrations, with some stating they waited longer than 10 minutes at Stevens station, while others complained about being late for work.

This marks the second reported incident on the TEL in recent months.

On the evening of 1 October, a train fault caused slower train movement between Woodlands North and Lentor stations. SMRT announced at 5.52pm that services on the affected line had fully resumed.

The TEL fault occurred shortly after train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista on the East-West Line resumed following a six-day major disruption.

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2024/12/19/thomson-east-coast-line-commuters-face-delays-on-19-dec-morning-due-to-signal-fault/

Track fault on 7-station stretch of East-West Line delays commuters during evening peak hour

SINGAPORE - Train commuters in western Singapore were delayed in their journeys during the evening peak hour on Dec 17, when a track fault affected a seven-station stretch on the East-West Line.

In a Facebook post at 7.37pm, operator SMRT advised commuters to factor in 15 minutes more when travelling between the Jurong East and Gul Circle stations.

Free regular service was available between the two stations, SMRT also said on X.

The delay was subsequently shortened to 10 minutes, before SMRT announced at 8.05pm that train services between the two stations had resumed, and the free bus services were stopped.

Several users on Facebook and X said the disruption happened at around 7pm.

Facebook user Fang Ng said: “I was on East-West Line at close to 7pm and alighted the train at Queenstown because announcement was made on the train fault.

“The social media announcement for train fault came... later. Why can’t the announcement be made earlier for folks to arrange alternative transport?”

The delay on Dec 17 follows two recent disruptions on the Circle Line, which is also operated by SMRT.

A signalling fault affected train service in the 10-station stretch between Farrer Road and Harbourfront stations on Dec 16, while a stalled train at Tai Seng station on Dec 14 resulted in no train service between Serangoon and Promenade stations – also a 10-stop stretch.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/track-fault-on-7-station-stretch-of-east-west-line-delays-commuters-during-evening-peak-hour

MRT reliability drops over the past year, with East-West Line showing biggest decline

Train service reliability has dropped over the 12-month period ending in September this year, with the East-West Line (EWL) showing the biggest decline.

These sobering figures were released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 22 Nov, in its latest Performance of Rail Service Reliability report.

MRT reliability gauged by mean kilometres between failures

The statistics are based on a 12-month moving average of mean kilometres between failures (MKBF), which is an engineering measure of rail reliability.

According to the report, MRT trains ran 1.798 million train-km without disruptions of more than five minutes between October 2023 and September 2024.

This is lower than the 2.077 million train-km recorded between delays in 2023.

It’s also lower than the 2.089 million train-km recorded in 2022 and the 1.994 million train-km recorded in 2021.

Reliability of EWL plummets

Among the individual lines, the Downtown Line (DTL) was the best performer by far, with 8.112 million train-km travelled between delays.

The Circle Line (CCL) was the worst performer, going just 1.04 million train-km between delays, a slight dip from 2023.

However, all the lines’ reliability remained more or less steady except for the EWL, which plummeted to 2.027 million train-km between delays, from a high of 3.363 million train-km last year.

While the EWL was the second-best performing line in 2023, it has now been overtaken by the North-East Line.

Notably, this came after a six-day disruption to the EWL at the end of September that affected about 2.6 million passengers.

The Thomson-East Coast Line was not included in the report as the line will open fully only in 2026.

LRT reliability also dropped

Unfortunately, the reliability of the LRT network has also dropped steeply, with an overall MKBF of 358,000 car-km between delays, down from 546,000 car-km in 2023.

The Sengkang-Punggol LRT performed better but took a sharp hit, plunging to an MKBF of 612,000 car-km from 1.217 million car-km in 2023.

This was still higher than the Bukit Panjang LRT (BPLRT), though, which slid to 189,000 car-km between delays, from 248,000 car-km in 2023.

In October, a BPLRT train became “immobilised” on the track, resulting in a five-hour service disruption and train service ending about 1.5 hours earlier than normal.

More MRT service delays this year

Finally, the number of service delays may also be on an upward trend on the MRT network.

There have already been six service delays of more than 30 minutes across the entire MRT network in the first nine months of this year.

This is compared with five for the whole of 2023, seven in 2022 and just three in 2021.

Two of the service delays this year happened on the EWL, while three were on the CCL and the remaining one was on the DTL.

The number of service delays on the LRT network has been more or less steady, with three in the first three quarters of the year compared with three in the whole of last year.

Public transport fares should not be linked to service levels and disruptions: Chee Hong Tat

SINGAPORE: Public transport service levels and disruptions should be separate from how fares are set, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat on Tuesday (Oct 15). 

Speaking during a ministerial statement on the East-West Line train disruption that occurred from Sep 25 to Sep 30, Mr Chee responded to a question from Member of Parliament Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) about whether this incident and service levels can be taken into consideration in the Public Transport Council’s (PTC) fare review exercise. 

MPs filed 31 parliamentary questions on the disruption, which stopped train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista MRT stations for six days. 

PTC previously studied whether fare reviews should be linked to service levels and disruptions, Mr Chee noted. 

The council decided not to adopt this approach because there are other measures in place to ensure that service standards are met, he added.

For service disruptions, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will establish causes and accountability, then mete out penalties where necessary, said the transport minister. 

When operators do not meet reliability targets, they also do not receive payments under the government's incentive schemes. 

The annual fare review exercise ensures that fares keep pace with changes in operating costs so that the public transport system stays financially sustainable, said Mr Chee, adding that the council follows a fare formula. 

For example, the maximum increase allowed this year was 18.9 per cent, due to the 15.6 percentage points carried over from last year. PTC, however, decided to defer most of this and raise fares by 6 per cent to ensure affordability, said the transport minister. 

“If our fares are not adjusted to reflect rising operating costs, the persistent shortfall would have a chronic impact on service quality and reliability over time,” he added. 

“Or if we want to continue topping up the shortfall via government subsidies, it means that taxpayers will have to foot a higher bill.” 

Mr Chee also responded to multiple questions about how the costs of the disruption will be covered.

Regardless of the investigation outcome, SMRT will bear the costs of the free bridging buses and regular bus services, the foregone fare revenue during the disruption and the repair works, he said. 

This requirement applies to both rail operators – SMRT and SBS Transit – if they encounter disruptions along their respective train lines, he noted. 

A lot more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/east-west-line-train-disruption-chee-hong-tat-4678956

According to a Redditor, there was another train fault today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/1g0wx7n/detrained_at_city_hall/

EWL services resume after delays caused by stalled train near Tiong Bahru MRT station

SINGAPORE – Train commuters on a section of the East-West Line were delayed on Oct 10, after a train broke down near the Tiong Bahru station.

A first-generation westbound Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) train had stalled at about 12.30pm, and all the passengers safely disembarked at the Outram Park station, SMRT said in a Facebook post on Oct 10.

The operator said at 1.14pm that the fault was cleared, and train services were being restored.

SMRT had said earlier on Facebook that commuters had to add 25 minutes to their travel time from Outram Park to Queenstown stations. They were also to add 20 minutes when travelling from Queenstown to Bugis stations.

Free regular bus services were provided between the Outram Park and Queenstown stations.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to your commute,” said SMRT.

Project manager Norman Goh, 46, who boarded the train at the Outram Park station, said the train stopped abruptly when it was travelling towards the Tiong Bahru station.

“Strangely, the train was tilted when it stopped moving,” said Mr Goh, who was with his wheelchair-bound father.

He added that the train then travelled back to the Outram Park station.

Other commuters The Straits Times spoke to said they did not realise that there was a train disruption, but noticed that the trains took longer to arrive at their stations.

One of them, who gave her name only as Ms Farhana, said she was worried about being late for work. She had left the office at lunchtime and had planned to work from home for the rest of the day.

The 24-year-old, who works in the financial services industry, said she waited for about 10 minutes for a train from Outram Park to Tiong Bahru.

Train services on another section of the EWL were disrupted for six days after a faulty train damaged track equipment on Sept 25.

The faulty train was also a first-generation KHI train, with the Land Transport Authority saying on the same day that both the authority and SMRT would do a thorough check on these trains overnight, before they were put into service the next day.

The earlier disruption affected about 2.6 million commuters, including some students who were late for their examinations.

Student Thahira Ariska said on Oct 10 she waited for about 10 minutes for a train from her home in Boon Lay to Outram Park.

The 16-year-old said she had to take the bridging buses whenever she needed to travel towards the east during the earlier disruption, and had to leave home an hour earlier.

She said: “It’s a bit disappointing that this is happening, because I thought the train was back to normal.”

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/train-fault-causes-25-minute-delay-from-outram-park-to-queenstown-mrt-stations-on-ewl

East-West Line disruption: Investigations underway, LTA to appoint expert advisory panel to review findings

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has begun a probe into the six-day disruption of train services on the East-West Line between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations.

The investigations are expected to be completed in a few months, said LTA on Wednesday (Oct 2), a day after train services resumed.

The findings, to be made public, will be reviewed by a panel made up of six experts.

Investigations will be conducted across several areas.

"First, we will investigate the root cause of the axle box failure. LTA’s investigations will include a forensic study into the nature of the axle box failure, and identify any other potential contributory factors that led to the incident," said the authority.

It will also look into the procedures involving fault detection and incident handling, and determine if appropriate actions were taken.

Finally, LTA will review the service recovery and disruption mitigation effort, to "ascertain the timeliness and comprehensiveness of the responses taken" by train operator SMRT. 

The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) will also carry out an independent safety investigation on the disruption, said the Ministry of Transport.

To support its investigations, LTA will appoint an Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) to review the findings and advise on technical matters.

The panel will be chaired by Mr Malcolm Dobell, former head of train systems for London Underground, and comprises five other local and overseas experts:

• Dr Tony Lee and Mr Chen Chao, both of whom have extensive expertise in rail operations and maintenance;

• Mr Chew Tai Chong, who has expertise in rail system engineering and train design

• Professor Gan Hiong Yap, who has expertise in railway engineering

• Professor Manoj Gupta, an expert in material science with a background in mechanical engineering

In a Facebook post, SMRT said it will also review the incident and has established a committee to do so, in accordance with its internal policy.

The committee will be chaired by SMRT independent board member and former chief defence scientist, Mr Quek Gim Pew. Another independent board member, Mr Ng Chin Hwee, who is also the former CEO of SIA Engineering Company, will serve as deputy chairman.

The committee will also include independent panel members, added SMRT.

The disruption began on the morning of Sep 25 after a faulty train caused a power trip and damage to the track and other equipment.

A defective component known as an axle box had dropped from the train onto the tracks, causing a bogie - or an undercarriage with wheels - to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi stations.

This resulted in extensive damage to the tracks and other equipment. Engineers also found damage to power cables, the third rail that supplies power and three machines used to divert trains to different tracks.

Full restoration of services, initially planned for the following Monday, had to be pushed back by a day after new cracks appeared on repaired rail segments during stress tests.

The 12 new cracks came on top of the 34 that had first developed along a 1.6km stretch between Dover and Clementi MRT stations. 

For almost a week, MRT services were disrupted between nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown, with the stretch between Jurong East and Buona Vista the most severely affected.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/mrt-east-west-line-disruption-lta-investigation-4654356

MRT TEL train fault between Woodlands North & Lentor, free regular bus service activated

On Oct.1 , the Thomson-East Coast line experienced a train fault, reported by SMRT's social media at 5:11pm.

The fault resulted in a shuttle train service being made available between Woodlands North and Woodlands South, as well as between Woodlands South and Lentor at 5:11pm on Oct. 1.

At the time of writing, provisory service is available between Lentor and Bayshore.

SMRT is also providing a free regular bus service between Woodlands North and Lentor.

At 4:56pm on Oct. 1, SMRT reported that trains moving from Woodlands North towards Lentor were moving slower, cautioning riders to expect an additional 10 minutes of travel time.

East-West Line MRT services to fully resume on Oct 1; westbound trains to run at slower speeds

SINGAPORE – Train services along the East-West Line will resume fully on Oct 1 from the start of passenger service hours, six days after rail services between Jurong East and Buona Vista MRT stations were crippled because of severe track damage.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operator SMRT said on the evening of Sept 30 that for safety reasons, a temporary speed limit of 40kmh – down from the usual 60kmh to 80kmh – will be imposed on westbound trains travelling on the repaired sections of the tracks.

The speed restriction will be in place until Oct 3, and is part of the standard process after rail replacements, they added.

“We advise commuters who are travelling to the west on the East-West Line to plan for an additional five minutes of travel time,” said LTA and SMRT.

They said their engineers and technicians had late on Sept 29 replaced 10 rail segments on which 12 new cracks were discovered.

Comprehensive testing of the track and trackside equipment was done for passenger safety.

These tests comprised functional and safety tests on the track, power supply and train signalling systems. The tracks were also subjected to load tests and ultrasound checks, followed by endurance runs using passenger trains loaded with sandbags to simulate a packed train.

The disruption has affected about 2.1 million passengers so far.

On the morning of Sept 30, LTA said that all affected rail segments, where 46 rail fractures such as cracks or chips were found – have been replaced. These spanned 2.55km of tracks. The third rail – which supplies power to trains – has also been restored.

SMRT also said its engineers had completed ultrasonic testing of welds, which refers to the inspection of welding by measuring the reflection of high-frequency sound waves.

SMRT had earlier aimed to restart services on Sept 30, but stress tests on Sept 28 found 12 cracks that were previously not visible on unreplaced segments of rail.

This meant that engineers had to replace another 10 segments of rail along the westbound track from Clementi to Ulu Pandan Depot, delaying the resumption of train services till Oct 1.

The faulty first-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries train, which has been in service for more than 35 years, was travelling eastwards when it encountered a fault near Clementi station at about 9am on Sept 25.

It was later turned around near Queenstown station onto the westbound track, bound for Ulu Pandan Depot.

As it was being withdrawn, a defective component on the train’s undercarriage – known as an axle box – dropped onto the tracks near Dover station, and this caused the wheels of the undercarriage to run off the rail.

This wrought extensive damage to the tracks and trackside equipment as the train was being taken to the depot.

The damage triggered a power trip that stalled other trains and crippled services. The train also damaged three point machines, stretches of the third rail, as well as power cables and rail fasteners.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/east-west-line-mrt-services-to-fully-resume-on-oct-1-westbound-trains-will-run-at-slower-speeds

Even IKEA also suan siao ASS-MRT lol

Full resumption of MRT East-West Line delayed due to new cracks appearing during final checks

The MRT disruption on the East-West Line (EWL) is set to continue into a sixth day on Monday (Sept 30), after stress tests on Saturday night saw new cracks appearing.

Full train services are now targeted to be restored on Tuesday, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT in a joint briefing on Sunday.

Train services on the western side of EWL have been disrupted since Wednesday, after a faulty train caused a power trip.

The initial target was Monday, but during the stress tests, 12 new rail cracks appeared on unreplaced rail segments along a different 800m stretch between Clementi station and Ulu Pandan Depot.

LTA and SMRT said these 10 segments had been weakened by Wednesday morning's faulty train.

Therefore, an extra day will be needed for the segments to be replaced, before more stress tests tomorrow - including using trains filled with sandbags to simulate real-world conditions - to ensure the MRT's safety.

"We thank commuters for your patience as we work on restoring our MRT system," said Lam Sheau Kai, president of SMRT Trains.

"The safety of our staff and commuters is our topmost priority. We seek your understanding as we continue to work closely with LTA to restore train service."

Free regular and bridging bus services between Boon Lay and Queenstown stations, as well as shuttle train services between Boon Lay and Jurong East stations, and between Queenstown and Buona Vista stations, remain available for commuters.

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat also shared the update on Facebook.

“Weather permitting, we expect the rail replacements to be completed tonight, followed by further testing to continue for most of tomorrow,” he added.

In a Facebook post on Saturday evening, SMRT had said that works on the damaged tracks and related equipment between Dover and Clementi stations were "fully completed".

The whole of Sunday would see functional and safety tests, including running trains on the tracks at different speeds.

The three damaged track point machines - which direct trains onto different tracks - and other rail equipment had been successfully recovered and passed functionality checks earlier on Friday.

Train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations have been suspended since Wednesday morning, after a component of a faulty train's wheel structure came off near Dover station while on its way to the depot.

This caused some wheels on the third carriage to drop out of position, which led to 34 rail breaks along a 1.6km stretch and a 150m stretch of track.

It also led to a power trip, disrupting train services from Boon Lay to Queenstown stations.

https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/full-resumption-mrt-east-west-line-delayed-due-new-cracks-appearing-during-final-checks