East-West Line shows biggest reliability drop in LTA’s latest rail service performance report

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) released an updated Rail Service Reliability Performance report on Nov 22  (Friday), which showed that there has been a decline in reliability over the past year, particularly for the East-West Line (EWL).

The LTA measures rail reliability based on a 12-month moving average of mean kilometres between failures (MKBF).

From Oct 2023 to Sept 2024, the mean distance travelled by the MRT with no delays of five minutes or longer was 1,798,000 train km. This is in contrast to the previous period when there had been 2,077,000 train km between delays.

The Downtown Line (DTL) has shown the best reliability rate from Oct 2023 to Sept 2024, with 8,112,000 train km travelled between delays. As good as this rate is, it’s still lower than the DTL’s previous rate of 8,124,000 train km last year.

The Circle Line (CCL) is this year’s worst performer, recording 1,040,000 train km between delays from Oct 2023 to Sep 2024. In 2023, its rate was 1,209,000 train km.

However, the EWL showed a marked drop in reliability.

From 3,363,000 train km in 2023, it recorded 2,027,000 train km between delays for Oct 2023 to Sep 2024, a drop of more than 1.3 million train km.

The EWL saw a six-day disruption in services from Sept 25 to 30, marking the longest train disruption in the history of Singapore.

On Sept 25, train services were halted between the Jurong East and Buona Vista stations. SMRT explained that a KHI train in service for more than 35 years encountered a fault and emitted smoke en route to the Ulu Pandan Depot.

This resulted in damage to the power cable and caused a power trip. Shuttle train and bus services were provided to help thousands of commuters out.

And while SMRT initially announced that train services would resume on Sept 30 (Monday), on Sept 29, it said more time was needed for checks to ensure commuter safety.

EWL services resumed fully on Oct 1.

However, from Dec 7 to 10, train services will be temporarily adjusted at Tanah Merah, Simei, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Expo, and Changi Airport stations.

This is to facilitate the connection to the new East Coast Integrated Depot (ECID), scheduled to open in 2026.

According to a statement from the LTA, the service adjustment is necessary because connecting EWL tracks to the ECID requires a continuous window to remove 80 metres of existing tracks, sleepers, and third rail along the existing EWL viaduct. /TISG

Read also: LTA: No train service on the EWL at Simei and between Tanah Merah & Tampines from Dec 7-10