Regular services on North-South, East-West lines resume after faulty engineering vehicle removed

SINGAPORE: Normal train services on the North-South and East-West lines have resumed after a derailed engineering vehicle that blocked Bishan Depot was cleared.

An engineering vehicle returning to Bishan Depot on Friday (Feb 7) morning had broken down and blocked trains from leaving to serve the North-South Line, public transport operator SMRT said on Friday.

"At 6.36 pm, SMRT successfully launched trains from Bishan Depot after our engineers and technicians cleared the tracks," SMRT said in a Facebook update at 7.20pm.

"Normal train services on the North-South and East-West lines have resumed," it added.

SMRT said in the update that intervals between trains during peak hours were "slightly longer at 3.5 minutes instead of the usual 2 minutes, while off-peak services were not affected".

The recovery operations, which started in the early hours of Friday, had taken longer because the space around the tracks was too tight to use a heavy-lifting crane to remove the engineering vehicle, SMRT said. Its engineers had to use hydraulic equipment to "slowly shift the vehicle inch by inch".

"SMRT will continue to investigate the cause of failure of the engineering vehicle," it added.

SMRT said in an earlier post on Friday that commuters taking the North-South and East-West lines on Friday evening should expect delays and crowded trains as it worked to recover the vehicle.

“Please expect longer intervals between trains of about 3.5 minutes on NSEWL during this evening's peak hours. Crowded trains are expected. Commuters are advised to take alternative lines or other modes of transport to continue their journey. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” SMRT said in a Facebook update at 5.15pm.

Issues first surfaced in the early hours of Friday after an engineering vehicle returning to Bishan Depot broke down at one of the crossings in the depot. 

“This prevented some trains that will serve the North-South Line this morning from leaving the depot,” said SMRT at about 7am, adding that the vehicle had performed regular maintenance works during engineering hours. 

Commuters were on Friday morning advised to add up to 10 minutes of train travel time between Ang Mo Kio and Jurong East stations towards Jurong East. 

It later said more trains from other depots were redirected from the East-West Line to support operations on the North-South Line.

In a progress update at about 5pm, SMRT said the wagon was off track, obstructing a key crossing and preventing trains from launching from Bishan Depot.

“The team is carefully using a hydraulic jack to shift the wagon inch by inch onto another track. While we aim to resolve the situation by this evening, safety remains our top priority.”