Chee Hong Tat apologises for East-West Line MRT disruption, promises to look for ways 'to cushion & mitigate impact' on affected commuters

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat has apologised for the East-West Line disruption that has been ongoing since Sep. 25, and stressed that authorities will "look for ways to cushion and mitigate the impact on affected commuters on the ground".

Chee was in Beijing for a two-day Global Sustainable Transport Forum when the disruption happened.

Damage is 'very extensive': Chee

In a video shared to Facebook at 5pm on Sep. 26, Chee provided an update on the situation before boarding his plane back from Beijing to Singapore.

@mothershipsg Minister Chee said: "The team from SMRT and LTA are working on a shuttle train service option between Jurong East and Buona Vista. They are currently assessing whether this can be done and they will update later today if the shuttle train service can be implemented tomorrow." #sgnews #tiktoksg #fyp #mrt #singapore ♬ original sound - Mothership

He shared that engineers from SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) have been working throughout the night to assess and repair the damaged tracks and equipment.

However, as the damage is "very extensive", they will need more time to finish the repairs and carry out tests and checks to ensure commuter safety before fully restoring train services, Chee said.

As a result, Chee said SMRT will not be able to fully restore train services by Sep. 27 (Thursday).

Will look for ways to cushion & mitigate impact on affected commuters: Chee

On the plans for the single-line shuttle train service between Jurong East and Buona Vista projected to run every 20 minutes, Chee said,

"[The team from SMRT and LTA] are currently assessing whether this can be done and they will update later today if the shuttle train service can be implemented tomorrow."

Chee said that bridging bus services and existing shuttle train services between Boon Lay and Jurong East, and between Queenstown and Buona Vista, will continue to run.

He added that they will look for ways to cushion and mitigate the impact on affected commuters on the ground.

"On behalf of the One Transport family, I would like to offer my sincere apologies to all our commuters for the disruption. Our workers are doing their best to safely restore train services as soon as possible," Chee said.

Background

Train service was first disrupted on Sep. 25 morning when a train that had been in service for over 35 years developed a fault while returning to Ulu Pandan Depot.

As it was being withdrawn, it damaged the tracks, including the running rails and a third rail supplying power to the train.

This led to a power fault that affected train services between Boon Lay and Queenstown MRT stations along the East-West Line.

Approximately 850 passengers on another train that stalled due to the power trip had to walk along the tracks to Clementi MRT station.

An expected delay of 20 minutes was later extended to a total cancellation of train services along that stretch.

Investigations revealed that a defective train axle box on the faulty train had fallen off, causing one bogie to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi stations.

The damage included a total of 34 rail breaks across 1.6km of tracks between Clementi and Dover stations, and damage to three point machines which are used to divert the train to different tracks, to the third rail which supplies power, as well as to power cables and rail clips.

The train that caused the power trip was identified as a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) train.

LTA and SMRT said on Sep. 26 that they have conducted checks on the KHI trains, and that all such trains put in service on Sep. 26 have passed Axle Box functionality checks.

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Top image from Chee Hong Tat & Complaint Singapore Facebook