Circle Line disruption: SMRT isolates power system cubicle that caught fire on Sept 18
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SMRT said it would also continue to work with LTA and the two manufacturers to determine the root cause of the fire.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE - The power system cubicle at Kim Chuan Depot that caught fire on Sept 18 and led to a second consecutive day of disruptions for Circle Line (CCL) passengers
In an update on Facebook, the rail operator said it worked closely with the original equipment manufacturers and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on a joint recovery plan during engineering hours to ensure stable power supply to the 35km MRT line.
SMRT said it would also continue to work with LTA and the two manufacturers – German conglomerate Siemens and a company called Ideal – in a joint investigation to determine the fire’s root cause.
The parties will also assess if the incident on Sept 18 was related to an earlier power fault that crippled the CCL
“We appreciate all commuters’ patience and apologise for the longer commutes over the past two evenings,” SMRT said.
At about 8pm on Sept 18, several trains on the CCL stalled for about 15 minutes after a fire broke out in one of the power system cubicles at Kim Chuan Depot, leading to a power trip that disrupted power supply to the entire line.
Power system cubicles are large metal boxes containing transformers that control the voltage of the electrical energy being transmitted.
SMRT said its engineers extinguished the fire and restored traction power by 8.10pm. Normal train services resumed progressively from around 8.15pm.
The day before, the CCL suffered a traction power trip that disrupted train services at 5.50pm.
Although power was restored by 6.05pm, SMRT staff had to manually recover the 11 trains that had stalled inside the CCL’s tunnels. Train services resumed fully at about 7.45pm.
In the 12 months ended March 2024, the CCL was the least reliable MRT line and the only one that posted a dip in performance – clocking 1.03 million train-km without service delays that lasted more than five minutes, down from 1.21 million train-km in 2023.
The rail service reliability statistics exclude the Thomson-East Coast Line, which is not fully opened.
SMRT had previously said that half of the CCL breakdowns during this period were due to upgrading works to integrate existing systems
Slated to be completed in 2026, CCL6 comprises three new underground stations – Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road – and the expansion of Kim Chuan Depot to more than double its current size.
Among the upgrades being made to the CCL, which opened in stages between 2009 and 2012, is the enhancement of the line’s power supply system to improve its resilience.
In 2019, Siemens was awarded a contract by LTA to supply the power system for CCL6
The company, which previously worked on the power supply systems for the Downtown Line (DTL), is also rolling out the power supply systems for the Jurong Region Line, the DTL extension comprising Xilin and Sungei Bedok stations, and the North East Line extension connecting Punggol station to the new Punggol Coast stop.
Siemens has also been awarded a contract for the Cross Island Line’s overhead conductor rail system, which supplies electricity to trains, and is part of a consortium that snagged a $400 million deal to design and install the power supply system
Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we attributed a quote about the impact of Circle Line Stage 6 on the MRT line’s reliability to SMRT group chief executive Ngien Hoon Ping. This has been corrected. The quote was said by another member of SMRT’s senior management at the same press conference in July, not Mr Ngien. We are sorry for the error.
