Power fault causes rush-hour disruption on NS, Circle lines

SINGAPORE — Swathes of commuters, including students sitting for the A-level English Literature examination, were today (Nov 25) left stranded at several MRT stations along the North-South Line after the train service between the Yishun and Bishan stations broke down for more than two hours during the morning peak period.
 
Just prior to the North-South Line disruption, which started at about 6am, service on the Circle Line was also delayed and subsequently resumed within an hour. 

The disruptions on both lines were attributed to a “traction power fault”, but it has not been established whether there was a common cause. 

On the North-South Line breakdown, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said preliminary investigations indicate that a power breaker located at Ang Mo Kio MRT Station was damaged. It added that the exact cause of the incident was under investigation. 

The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board said that 10 out of the 1,600 candidates who took the A-level English Literature exam reported late for the paper. These affected candidates were given the full duration to complete the exam. 

The breakdown of the North-South Line was the latest in a series of disruptions that have plagued the MRT network in recent years. While efforts are under way to improve rail reliability, commuters were nevertheless frustrated at the latest incident.  

Housewife Low Guat Hong, 59, who was caught in the breakdown, said: “I don’t understand why the MRT is always breaking down ... It’s very troublesome.”
 
Mr Aditya, a 35-year-old information technology professional, added: “My schedule is totally messed up. I’m missing all my morning meetings.” 

Auditor Jessica Toh, 23, said it has come to a point where she is “not even surprised” by train disruptions, yet the handling of the situation left much to be desired.  Ms Toh, who was at Bishan MRT Station when TODAY spoke to her, took the train from Sembawang at about 8.30am, 20 minutes after train service had fully resumed. But she said it took her 50 minutes instead of the usual 15 minutes to travel from Sembawang to Bishan because the train she was on kept stopping. 

The LTA said at about 9am, about 50 trains were running at a frequency of two to three minutes. 

At Bishan MRT Station, there were still crowds at the nearby bus stop and taxi stand about an hour after the resumption of the train service. Free buses arriving from Yishun MRT Station were packed to the brim with passengers. About 50 buses were activated for bridging services, which ceased at 9.45am. 

SMRT managing director Lee Ling Wee and LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong were both at Ang Mo Kio MRT Station during the breakdown. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Lee apologised for the latest incident. He reiterated that SMRT is upgrading its power network, among other measures. “All these things are in progress ... Meanwhile, I urge commuters to bear with us,” he said.

Mr Chew said LTA worked very closely with SMRT and SBS Transit to provide bus bridging services. “We tried our best in terms of the recovery … Action has been taken quite quickly this time round,” said Mr Chew. 

Last week, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan blogged about a multi-pronged strategy to restore the reliability of the North-South and East-West Lines. These include replacing, overhauling and upgrading the system as well as creating a culture of strong maintenance and less finger-pointing when things go wrong. He also announced that the LTA was drafting a “stringent set” of maintenance performance standards for the operators to adhere to.