SMRT apologises for recent spate of rail disruptions, says incidents are unrelated

Commuters waiting at the East-West Line's Clementi MRT Station on March 3, 2015. As SMRT issued the statement on Tuesday, another delay occurred on the East-West line from Tanjong Pagar to Jurong East towards Joo Koon. -- ST PHOTO: TIFFANY GOH 
Commuters waiting at the East-West Line's Clementi MRT Station on March 3, 2015. As SMRT issued the statement on Tuesday, another delay occurred on the East-West line from Tanjong Pagar to Jurong East towards Joo Koon. -- ST PHOTO: TIFFANY GOH 

SINGAPORE - The recent spate of rail disruptions on SMRT's network over the past week were unrelated incidents, the transport operator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Apologising for the inconvenience caused to commuters, SMRT added that it is deeply concerned by the frequency of the delays and is working to improve the reliability and availability of its services.

In its statement, SMRT shared its investigation findings from the recent disruptions.

Feb 23: North-South Line services between Yew Tee and Kranji were disrupted for four hours and 38 minutes. SMRT said that a thunderstorm prevented engineers from accessing the site initially. The disruption was due to a damaged power collecting device on the train that affected the third rail, which supplies power to trains. A fleet-wide inspection of all its North-South, East-West Line trains has been conducted to ensure the power collecting devices are working.

Feb 24: The Bukit Panjang Light Rail service was disrupted at midday due to a train fault. SMRT said this was caused by a power and signal collecting assembly on an LRT train being dislodged, hitting a signal rail and causing a power trip. The signal rail has been repaired, and a thorough check of all trains and tracks has also been conducted.

Feb 27: Trains services on the North-South Line between Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Gombak were disrupted for over 90mins after a man was seen walking on the tracks. SMRT said that it is reviewing the existing security measures with relevant authorities.

March 3: A signalling fault on the Circle Line HarbourFront station resulted in a delay of more than half an hour. SMRT said it is still investigating this incident.

SMRT's president and group chief executive, Desmond Kuek, said: "We apologise for the rail incidents over the past week. Our transport professionals are giving their all to make your journey a better one."

As SMRT issued the statement on Tuesday, another delay occurred on the East-West line from Tanjong Pagar to Jurong East towards Joo Koon.

This was caused by a track fault, which SMRT announced at 5.44 pm on its Twitter page. At 7.06pm, SMRT tweeted that normal services have resumed.

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