September 27, 2024
SINGAPORE – A faulty train returning to Ulu Pandan Depot caused extensive damage to tracks and trackside equipment on Sept 25, disrupting train services on a stretch of the East-West Line in the west.
The Land Transport Authority has estimated that it will take a few days to repair the damage and for full services to resume.
Here are some other major train service disruptions over the years.
April 13, 1999
A human error led to a train derailment in the tunnel near Toa Payoh MRT station more than two decades ago, causing the train service on the North-South Line to be disrupted for nearly seven hours. SMRT’s former chief Kwek Siew Jin apologised for the breakdown following the incident.
The station master at Ang Mo Kio, sent to reset the tracks after the automatic signalling system failed, was supposed to set the tracks at two points, but was believed to have overlooked one. As station masters were not required to report to anyone after resetting the tracks, the error was not detected. Following the incident, SMRT mandated that at least two officers had to personally oversee any manual track alignments.
July 24, 2006
Some 100,000 commuters were affected by a seven-hour disruption on the North East Line. Two cables came loose and caused a south-bound train to stall, forcing the shutdown of four stations – Clarke Quay, Chinatown, Outram Park and HarbourFront. No one was hurt, but about 100 passengers had to be led through a 200m stretch of the underground train tunnel back to the Outram Park station, after the train ground to a halt just after leaving that station.
Jan 21, 2008
A seven-hour disruption on the East-West Line affected about 57,000 commuters. SMRT workers had failed to engage the parking brakes of a maintenance train, causing it to crash into its locomotive. The incident held up train services at four stations along the East-West Line – Pasir Ris, Tampines, Simei and Tanah Merah – from 5.28am to 12.45pm.
Sept 20, 2011
A faulty cable and water leaking into the tunnel on the Circle Line resulted in a four-hour disruption during the morning rush hour. The cable was damaged while it was being laid. Then, when dirty water seeped unexpectedly into the tunnel, it caused the system to trip. There was no power across the entire line, with about 26,600 commuters affected.
Dec 15, 2011
Trains on the North-South Line suddenly lost power and came to a halt during the evening rush hour on Dec 15, 2011, plunging thousands of commuters into darkness. Train windows were smashed to let in air, and commuters reported waiting for up to an hour in the stifling heat of carriages where the air-conditioning had failed. Eleven stations were affected from Marina Bay to Bishan. Some stations reopened at 9pm, but there were no services at some stations for the rest of that night.
Two days later on Dec 17, a disruption across 12 stations from Marina Bay to Ang Mo Kio started at 6.50am and lasted for seven hours, affecting 94,000 commuters.
Then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ordered an inquiry into the train breakdowns, and the Committee of Inquiry later concluded SMRT’s maintenance lapses had led to the two disruptions. SMRT was fined $2 million for the breakdowns.
March 15, 2012
A pair of steel cables snapped just before service began on the North East Line, resulting in a train service disruption that lasted over 10 hours. The cables were part of a counterweight system that kept overhead power lines, which supplied electricity to the trains, taut and aligned. Works to replace the cables took longer than expected, and there was no service at five stations until 4.35pm. About 90,000 commuters were affected.
Jan 10, 2013
The six-hour disruption affecting train services between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront started at around 10am, and affected close to 60,000 largely non-peak travellers. The cause of the breakdown was traced to three broken U-shaped steel bolts in the northbound tunnel between HarbourFront and Outram Park stations. The 12mm bolts secured a cantilever arm to which the system’s power lines were attached.
July 7, 2015
Train services on both the North-South and East-West lines were disrupted for more than two hours from 7pm, which affected some 413,000 commuters.
Further investigations revealed that a contaminated electrical component was the cause of the disruption. Salt deposits had accumulated on an insulator for the power-supplying third rail along a stretch of the East-West Line between Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place stations. This was one of a “confluence” of factors that caused a power trip, which led to the breakdown of the train services. SMRT was later fined $5.4 million for the breakdown.
April 25, 2016
Train services on three MRT lines and the Bukit Panjang LRT were disrupted during the evening peak hour. The affected parts of the lines were Buona Vista to Joo Koon stations on the East-West Line, Jurong East to Kranji stations on the North-South Line, and Caldecott to HarbourFront stations on the Circle Line. More than 30 affected stations were without power except for emergency lighting.
Operator SMRT explained that a power dip at Buona Vista power intake station caused a power trip. A power intake station takes power supply from the power grid to power sections of the MRT network. The disruption lasted between 30 minutes and almost two hours on the various lines.
Oct 7, 2017
Water in MRT tunnels from Bishan to Braddell stations disrupted train services along 13 stations on the North-South Line for several hours. The Singapore Civil Defence Force used portable pumps to siphon water from the affected area. Water in the tunnels reportedly went up to more than 30cm. The disruption came as warnings of heavy rain with gusty winds were issued over many parts of Singapore.
Investigations into the incident found that a storm water pit in the tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations – designed to collect and drain out rainwater – was likely close to full before the incident. It was also found that due to a lapse in maintenance, sludge and debris had accumulated in the lower compartment of the water pit, which could have affected the operational capabilities of pumps and float switches.
Nov 15, 2017
An unprecedented software glitch in the signalling system of the East-West Line caused two MRT trains to collide at Joo Koon station at around 8am during the morning peak hour rush. The incident left more than 30 people injured, and disrupted train services between Boon Lay and Tuas Link stations.
During the accident, the first train had pulled into Joo Koon station when it stalled because of an anomaly in the signalling system. Passengers on the train were offloaded, except for an SMRT employee who remained on board.
The second train, which had stopped more than 10m behind and was carrying more than 500 passengers, unexpectedly moved forward and collided with the first train.
During a press conference following the incident, Land Transport Authority and SMRT officials said the signalling system had mistakenly profiled the stalled train as a three-car train, instead of the six-car one it actually was. This caused the second train – which had stopped 10.7m behind the first – to misjudge the distance between the two, resulting in a collision.
Service along four stations – Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link – resumed after several days, but service between Joo Koon and Gul Circle stations was suspended till mid-2018.
Oct 14, 2020
A section of power cable that burned through and a faulty circuit breaker along the Tuas West Extension were the primary cause of a massive disruption on Oct 14 that affected three MRT lines. The incident lasted more than three hours, and affected 123,000 commuters. Many were stuck in trains for hours when the power went out.
The disruption happened amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and some commuters were concerned about the spread of the virus, as it was difficult to keep a safe distance from others with crowds forming at the stations and bus stops.
In the aftermath of the incident, several stations along the East-West Line were closed on Sundays between March and May 2021, to facilitate the replacement of electrical power cables.