Power trip causes rush-hour chaos at 3 MRT lines, LRT network
The scene at City Hall MRT station. Photo: Chua Chin Hon/TODAY
SINGAPORE — A power trip brought things to a halt on three MRT lines — North-South, East-West and Circle — as well as the Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (LRT) network during evening rush hour on Monday (April 25).
The lights went off at some stations and trains, and some escalators stopped running, leaving commuters in darkness. Services resumed in about 30 minutes for the North-South and East-West lines, but took about an hour for the Circle Line. The Bukit Panjang LRT network was down for nearly two hours.
In a statement on Facebook, SMRT said the power trip was traced to a power dip at the Buona Vista power-intake station. The trip, which occurred at 7.53pm, downed train services on the East-West line from Buona Vista to Joo Koon stations, on the North-South line from Jurong East to Kranji stops, and on the Circle Line from Caldecott to HarbourFront stations in both directions.
On the Bukit Panjang LRT network, four trains were stalled between stations and 150 commuters disembarked safely, the transport operator added.
Free bus services were activated for commuters. “We are currently investigating the cause of the power trip,” SMRT said. “We deeply apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
A power intake station draws electricity from the grid to power sections of the MRT network. There are five such stations along the North-South and East-West Lines, as well as the Circle Line. SMRT said checks will be done overnight, especially on the Buona Vista power intake station, during engineering hours.
In 2015, services on the North-South and East-West Lines came to a complete halt for several hours due to a power fault, the first time services on both lines were affected at the same time.
The disruption on Monday comes less than a week after the authorities unveiled the recommendations of an independent advisory panel appointed last December to review the power-supply system for all MRT and LRT lines. Among the initiatives being explored following the recommendations include the possibility of implementing predictive and condition monitoring tools to help pinpoint abnormalities in the rail systems for early intervention.
Mr Emmanuel Phua, 21, said he had boarded a Circle Line train at Bishan at 8.05pm. Ten minutes later, while the train was still stalled at the station, the lights in the station went off, followed by those on the train.
“The only things that lit up were the (overhead monitors),” the full-time national serviceman told TODAY, adding that some lights came back on less than five minutes later. There was “no announcement” from station staff, he noted.
An assistant manager, who wanted to be known only as Ms Serina, had boarded a train at Somerset station at 8pm, only to disembark minutes later when the train did not move.
The 36-year-old, who later took the bus to her Woodlands home, said station staff on the platform were unable to provide clear information on train services at the time.
Mr Gabriel Alexander, 23, was at Choa Chu Kang MRT station at around 8.20pm when he heard a siren at the station. “It got quite spooky as there were no lights at the train station. One of the shutters got activated and was pulled down,” he said. The SMRT staff at the station then had to manually pull the shutter back up again. He added: “People were quite confused as to what was happening but they still managed to tap out of the gantry.”
At Bishan MRT station, SMRT staff could be seen on station premises offering assistance to confused passengers, even after train services resumed. Announcements on the additional travelling time were heard as crowds on the train platforms thinned, and many continued to cluster at the nearby taxi stand.
The Land Transport Authority and the transport operators are also working together to review incident-response measures and recovery plans, with technical exercises in a “simulated live operating environment” on the cards. All affected commuters can seek a fare refund within the next 14 days at any of SMRT’s train stations. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CLIFFORD LEE, ASYRAF KAMIL
The transport operator first tweeted about the train disruption at 8.11 pm. It then activated free bus services between Joo Koon and City Hall stations and between Kranji and Jurong East stations.
At 8.34pm, it tweeted that service had resumed but cautioned that there would be crowding at some stations and congestion as trains were moving slower than usual. Free bus services continued running for another 15 minutes after that before ceasing.
