Train disruption on Downtown Line due to braking system failure

SINGAPORE — Four months after it started operations, the Downtown Line 2 saw its first serious disruption on Tuesday morning (May 3).

Train services between Bukit Panjang and Sixth Avenue Stations on the Downtown Line were disrupted for about 30 minutes due to a train fault at the Beauty World Station, said Ms Tammy Tan, a spokesperson for SBS Transit, in a statement.

SBS Transit operates the Downtown Line, along with the North East Line. SMRT operates the North South Line, the East West Line and the Circle Line.

“The train’s emergency brakes had been applied and could not be re-set, preventing it from moving out of the station,” she said. 
“To enable service to resume, train engineers worked to remove the faulty train from the Line. Although service resumed at 11.10am, delays of up to 10 minutes were experienced at certain stations as trains on the Line were being regulated back to service.”

Throughout this period, free bus rides were available at affected stations, said Ms Tan. Full service resumed at 11.40am.

“We apologise to affected commuters for the inconvenience caused,” she added, saying that SBS Transit was investigating the cause of the train fault.

This is the latest in a string of MRT disruptions that have occurred recently. Last Tuesday, train service on the North South Line was briefly disrupted for about half an hour; less than 12 hours after four train lines were affected by a power trip.

On April 21, there was no train service from Marina South Pier to Newton stations. Later that same day, the North-East Line was hit by a train disruption when services were unavailable between Chinatown and Farrer Park stations in both directions.

The Downtown Line is the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. When fully completed, the line will be about 42km long with 34 stations, making it the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore.

The first stage of the Downtown Line commenced operations with six stations on Dec 22, 2013. The second phase started operations on Dec 27 last year with 12 stations from Bukit Panjang to Rochor.

The third stage is expected to open in 2017.