Twin MRT faults on Friday morning not linked: LTA

SINGAPORE — The Friday (Aug 18) morning signalling faults on the North-South Line (NSL) and Downtown Line (DTL) were not linked, although they were reported five minutes apart at about 6.25am, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

The three-hour NSL disruption may have been caused by erroneous signals from a defective train, while the one on the DTL was due to a fault in the automatic train launch system.

Regular services resumed at 9am and 9.15am, respectively, on the DTL and NSL.

In a press release on Friday evening, the LTA said trains on the NSL “had to move at a slower speed for safety reasons” as the erroneous signals caused the wayside radio units along the line to fail.

The defective NSL train was pulled from service, and engineers from NSL line operator SMRT and Thales - the supplier of the new signalling system – are working with LTA engineers to identify the root cause of the fault.

Commuters affected by the NSL disruption included students taking their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) oral exams. TODAY saw line of about 30 students queuing up to get a handwritten excuse slip at Bishan MRT station at 8am – the same time the first session of the oral exam was due to start.

But the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said fewer than 10 PSLE oral candidates reported late because of the train disruption. “Late” candidates are those who arrived after their allotted time slots between the 8am and 11.30am period, it said.

The late arrivers “were given time to rest upon reaching their school”, and “were given full duration for their examination”, said the SEAB spokesperson. “SEAB would like to assure examination candidates that they will not be penalised for being late if they have difficulties getting to their examination centres due to train service disruptions.”

Candidates were not required to produce any excuse slips as proof that they were affected by the train disruption, the SEAB spokesperson said, as the LTA alerts the board to any major train service disruption during the national examination period.

Ahead of the exams, the SEAB has told schools to assure students that the full duration of the paper would be given if they are affected by train service disruptions.

The Ministry of Education posted on Facebook about three hours after the NSL’s signalling system fault occurred near Ang Mo Kio, telling students not to worry about missing their oral exams. “Just let your school know. If necessary, you will be able to take the exam at a later time,” said the ministry.

As for the DTL, trains could not be “automatically launched” from the depot before the start of service at 5.30am because of a fault in its Automatic Train Supervision system, the LTA said. They had to be “manually driven” to the main line at a lower speed.

The fault has been rectified and engineers from DTL line operator SBS Transit and Siemens — the supplier of the train supervision system — are working with LTA engineers to identify its root cause.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience commuters faced this morning. LTA continues to work closely with SMRT and SBS Transit, and both incidents will be thoroughly investigated,” said the authority.

At about 5pm, however, SMRT warned commuters of a second straight day of potential delays on the NSL in the evening. The operator told commuters to “plan their journeys ahead” as its engineers “continue to monitor the system very closely”.