MRT Breakdown: North-South, East-West lines may see limited services this morning
A display board at Boon Lay MRT station informs of train service disruption on the North South East West Lines (NSEWL) on 7 July 2015. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY
UPDATE 8 JULY (6.20am) : Train services are expected to run at reduced speeds according to the following schedule, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said today.
Services on the North-South Line will be suspended from 11am to 4pm to allow LTA and SMRT engineers to conduct further investigations to determine the cause of the power trip that led to the shutdown of power across the entire network yesterday, the LTA said. Service on the East-West Line will continue to operate throughout the day but at reduced speed, "as a matter of precaution and safety", LTA added.
Free bus services will be available from designated bus stops and bus interchanges close to NSEWL stations, with up to 100 buses deployed to ply the affected routes along train routes, LTA said.
Additionally, the North-East Line and Circle Line will extend their morning peak period by two hours, with trains running at two and three-minute intervals during this period.
SINGAPORE — SMRT’s entire network and train fleet underwent comprehensive checks overnight, but the North-South and East-West lines may continue to see limited service this morning (July 8), the public transport operator warned in a statement last night.
It advised commuters to make alternative plans for travelling to work, adding that free bus services will continue this morning and fare gates at MRT stations will remain open to allow free entry until train services resume to full operations.
SMRT Corporation’s president and group chief executive officer Desmond Kuek said all engineering and technical staff had been mobilised to carry out the checks and to conduct tests.
“While it is still early to conclude the cause of the fault, we are doing our utmost to recover the system with the view to resume full train services as soon as possible. We deeply apologise for the inconvenience caused to all our commuters,” he added.
Before starting their journey, commuters can check on the status of train services on these two lines via the SMRT and the Land Transport Authority’s websites and social media pages, as well as the MyTransport.sg app.
With services at 54 stations shutting down simultaneously during evening peak-hour yesterday, SMRT staff were left scrambling to placate the voluminous numbers of affected commuters who found alternative transport options hard to come by.
Commuters complained that station staff were slow to provide information on available buses in the vicinity and their routes. Less IT-savvy passengers — in particular, seniors — were at a loss as to how to make their way to their destinations. Many were spotted crowding around SMRT service staff, waiting for their turn to ask what was going on.
Despite all available buses being sent out across the island, bus stops around the affected East-West and North-South lines stations were jam-packed, with commuters having to wait for several buses before they could squeeze on board. Some commuters were heard raising their voices when they were told not to try to board the already-full buses.
As SMRT’s ground staff tried to manage the crowds outside the MRT stations, officers from the Special Operations Command and Public Transport Security Command had to step in to prevent people from spilling over onto the roads. At some stations, officers had to use ropes to regulate the human flow and boarding of buses.
The deployment of buses also appeared to compound matters in some areas, said commuters. At Stamford Road, for instance, slow boarding caused buses to cluster along the roads, causing a traffic snarl.
Although announcements were issued over the public address system at the affected stations soon after the disruption, some commuters wondered why this was not also done for the unaffected lines. At Buona Vista Station, for instance, those who had gotten off the Circle Line soon after the outage hit were caught off-guard by the chaos.
Giving an account of the chronology of events, SMRT Trains’ managing director Lee Ling Wee said the first signs of trouble emerged at 6pm, when its Operation Control Centre detected multiple power trips on the two lines.
“These power trips were linked to the voltage protection circuit of traction power, which is designed to safeguard the safety of commuters at station platforms,” he said. SMRT’s engineers reset the power trips, but “the frequency and impact of power trips intensified”.
Mr Lee added that based on preliminary assessments, the cause of the power fault could be equipment failure at substations or along the track, or a defective train.
