LTA, SBS Transit probing Aug 12 train disruption, reviewing ways to up power system’s resilience
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Two stalled LRT carriages seen near Sengkang LRT station on Aug 12. In a post on its X platform, transport operator SBS Transit apologised for the inconvenience caused.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
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SINGAPORE – Investigations into the disruption to train services on the North East MRT Line and the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) system are under way, along with a review on how to make its power system more resilient.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a Facebook post on Aug 13 that, along with operator SBS Transit, it is investigating the cause behind the disruption on Aug 12, which lasted three hours on the North East Line (NEL).
The LRT system was also disrupted for about 10 hours on the same day.
This outage was caused by a failure of the power switchboard at the NEL depot substation, according to preliminary investigations.
LTA and SBS Transit engineers worked throughout the night to restore power to that substation and to ensure its safety, the authority said.
Slightly after 11am on Aug 12, train services along an 11-station stretch – between Farrer Park and Punggol Coast – on the NEL and the entire SPLRT were crippled by a power fault.
Train services along the NEL were progressively restarted at affected stations before fully resuming across all stations from 2.10pm.
Sengkang LRT service was restored at 3.34pm and Punggol LRT service at 4.04pm, with each operating on a single track for the peak period that evening until services were fully reinstated at 9.20pm, said SBS Transit in a Facebook post on Aug 12.
In a statement on Aug 12, SBS Transit group chief executive Jeffrey Sim said the disruption was caused by a failure of the power switchboard at the NEL depot substation. This led to a flashover – an unintended electrical discharge – in a voltage transformer used to regulate the power supply.
“This resulted in a trip in both the main and backup power supply as part of the power protection mechanism,” he added.
Power was drawn from SBS Transit’s other substation in Dhoby Ghaut as the faulty voltage transformer at the NEL depot substation could not be repaired immediately after the power trip.
SBS Transit said on Aug 12 that the engineers would work to restore the power supply to the faulty substation during engineering hours, when there is no passenger service.
