SMRT: More time is needed for East-West Line repairs; Singaporeans say the train service disruption is the longest in Singapore’s history

SINGAPORE: SMRT announced on Sunday (Sept 29) that the resumption of East-West Line train services would not push through on Monday (Sept 30), as it had initially said.

And while SMRT said it planned to have services fully restored by Sept 30, it announced on Sunday afternoon that more time was needed to ensure commuter safety.

This meant no train services from the Jurong East to Buona Vista stations on Sept 30, but SMRT added it was working towards restoration by 1 Oct (Tuesday).

Singaporeans commenting expressed disappointment but understood that safety is more important than the speed of resuming train services.

Nevertheless, several said that the current disruption of train services, believed to be the longest in Singapore’s history, highlighted the need for preventive maintenance of the city-state’s trains.

On Sept 25, train services were halted between the Jurong East and Buona Vista stations. SMRT explained on its Facebook account 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 commuters out. Nevertheless, as the Green Line is one of the most widely used in Singapore, the disruption has affected thousands of people.

While repair and restoration works were carried out, 12 new cracks that had not been previously visible appeared on unreplaced rail segments. This meant more replacements and load testing were needed before resuming full passenger service.

Netizens commenting on SMRT’s announcement thanked the engineers working around the clock on repairs. Some said, however, that promising to resume services by Sept 30 had been unrealistic, given the extent of the damage.

Others wondered if more preventive maintenance had been needed to avoid the lengthy train disruption. “In short, it has been lacking of preventive maintenance. Still have the cheek to keep increasing fares,” wrote one Facebook user.

Another warned that it would be better not to commit to resume services too early, as it’s possible the EW Line may not be completely safe for passengers even by Oct 1. “Just in case it still can’t, people will be more disappointed,” he wrote.

One Reddit user opined that expecting a major issue to be fixed in four to five days is “not realistic.”

“It would probably be better to announce a weeklong delay, set the expectations, and then say that the rail system will open earlier than the other way round.

Then, they can celebrate that they did it ahead of time. That’s what they did for the Circle Line when the CCL6 integration works were ongoing,” another chimed in. /TISG

Read also: Due to EW line disruption, S’poreans share hacks for getting home quicker than the suggested route