What's the extent of the damage to EWL that may take days to fix?

Following the MRT disruption that started on Wednesday (Sep. 25), Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT said that after their engineers worked through the night, they found "extensive damage" to the track and trackside equipment.

As such, regular train services on the East-West Line (EWL) between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations will not be able to resume on Friday (Sep. 27).

LTA and SMRT said in a joint statement on Thursday (Sep. 26) that they are working towards partially restoring train services, where a single-line train shuttle service will run every 20 minutes between Jurong East and Buona Vista.

Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat said on Sep. 26 that as the damage is "very extensive", more time is required to finish the repairs and carry out tests and checks to ensure commuter safety before fully restoring train services.

So, what is the extent of the damage?

Damage across 1.6km of tracks

Train service was first disrupted on Sep. 25 morning when a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) train that had been in service for over 35 years developed a fault.

As it was being withdrawn, it damaged the tracks, including the running rails and a third rail supplying power to the train.

LTA and SMRT investigations revealed that a defective train axle box was dropped from the KHI train, causing the wheels of a bogie to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi station.

Each train on the EWL has six cars. Each car has two bogies, and each bogie has an axle box.

The dropped axle box led to 34 rail breaks across 1.6km of tracks between the two stations.

As SMRT's Chairman Seah Moon Ming and Group CEO Ngien Hoon Ping explained:

"A defective train axle box on one of our first-generation trains dropped and caused the wheels of a bogie to come off the running rail and hit track equipment, including the third rail and point machines, leading to the power fault."

It also caused damage to three-point machines that are used to divert the train to different tracks.

In addition, the third rail, which supplies power to the train, as well as power cables and rail clips, sustained damage.

Still ongoing

LTA shared that SMRT engineers and technicians have been working continuously to restore and replace the track and trackside equipment.

Works are ongoing.

LTA and SMRT conducted checks, and all KHI trains in service today passed their axle box functionality checks.

80 double-deck buses were deployed for the free bridging services to and from Buona Vista and Jurong East.

620 ground staff from LTA, SMRT, SBS, Tower Transit, and police officers have been managing the crowds since the morning peak period.

"LTA and SMRT's priority is to resume train service as soon as possible, and we will provide further updates."

On the disruption, Chee stressed that authorities 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."

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Top photos via LTA