North East Line reliability doubles in February; overall MRT reliability up

SINGAPORE – The reliability of the MRT network improved in February, with that of the North East Line (NEL) doubling from the month before, based on figures released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

On average, trains clocked 1.74 million train-km between delays lasting more than five minutes between March 2025 and February 2026, up from the average of 1.67 million train-km between February 2025 and January 2026.

This remains above Singapore’s rail reliability target – measured by mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) – of one million train-km for the entire MRT network.

The MKBF, which reflects how far a train travels before encountering a delay of more than five minutes, is a widely used engineering measure of rail reliability. LTA’s figures are based on a 12-month moving average of the MKBF.

On a separate measure, trains were generally more punctual across the MRT network in February. Some 99.46 per cent of trips were completed within two minutes of the scheduled time, an increase from 99.24 per cent in January, LTA said on March 13.

The SBS Transit-operated NEL emerged as the most reliable MRT line after clocking 4.42 million train-km between delays in February, double the moving average of 2.21 million train-km in January.

Coming in second was SBS Transit’s Downtown Line (DTL), which averaged 2.8 million train-km between delays, a slight improvement from 2.79 million train-km.

Behind the DTL was the SMRT-operated Circle Line (CCL) with 1.8 million train-km, down from 1.83 million train-km.

The East-West Line, also operated by SMRT, came in next, recording 1.44 million train-km between delays, a slight drop from 1.45 million train-km.

The least reliable was the SMRT-operated North-South Line, holding steady at 1.24 million train-km, after recording the same figure in January.

The performance of the SMRT-run Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) was excluded from the overall rail reliability results, as MRT lines in their early stages tend to see significantly lower mileage due to relatively low ridership and trains not running at typical frequencies.

The fifth and final stage of the line, comprising Bedok South and Sungei Bedok stations, will open in the second half of 2026. LTA said that after the line is fully open and operations have stabilised, TEL’s performance can then be fairly compared with that of the mature MRT lines.

In February, TEL trains travelled an average of 415,000 train-km between delays, an improvement from 373,000 train-km the month before.

There was no major delay exceeding 30 minutes across the rail network in February.

On the LRT network, overall reliability rose in February, with trains averaging 410,000 car-km between delays, up from 408,000 car-km in January.

The Sengkang-Punggol LRT, operated by SBS Transit, recorded a slight improvement, clocking 866,000 car-km between delays, up from 860,000 car-km. The SMRT-run Bukit Panjang LRT posted 200,000 car-km between delays, unchanged from January.

On the train punctuality front, the improvement was fuelled by the stronger performances of the NEL and CCL.

Punctuality on the NEL rose from 98.61 per cent in January to 99.44 per cent in February. The CCL also logged an improvement in punctuality, climbing from 98.81 per cent in January to 99.54 per cent in February.

Punctuality on the TEL, which was excluded from overall network-wide punctuality data, remained at 99.91 per cent in February – the same as in January.

The proportion of train services that operated according to schedule went up across the network, from 99.87 per cent in January to 99.98 per cent in February.

All five mature MRT lines recorded improvements. But the TEL saw a dip on this count, dropping from 99.99 per cent in January to 99.9 per cent in February.