Point machine fault along MRT East-West Line causes delay between Boon Lay & Buona Vista

A point machine fault near Jurong East station has caused delays along the East-West Line (EWL) between Boon Lay and Buona Vista MRT stations.

According to SMRT, the EWL experienced a point machine fault on Aug. 6 at the start of service at around 6:03am.

Travellers were advised to add 15 minutes to travel time when travelling from Boon Lay to Clementi or find alternative travel routes.

At 6:28am, SMRT's engineers were working to recover train services, and at 6:32am, travellers were advised to add 15 minutes to their travel time from Boon Lay to Buona Vista.

Free regular bus services were also offered between Boon Lay and Buona Vista.

At 7:17am, commuters were told to add 25 minutes to their travel time, and free regular bus and bridging services were offered between Boon Lay and Buona Vista.

By 10:58am, the fault was cleared and train services resumed progressively.

As of 11:05am, train services from Boon Lay to Buona Vista have resumed. Free regular and bridging bus services have also ended.

In a statement, SMRT Trains' president Lam Sheau Kai shared that the point machine helps control train movements at rail junctions when trains switch tracks.

Thus, for safe operations, trains were driven at a slower speed over the faulty point machine, resulting in the additional 25 minutes' travel time.

"Our engineers went onto the track after morning peak hours to investigate and have successfully resolved the," said Lam.

"We thank all commuters for their patience and understanding. We apologise for the longer travelling time this morning."

Again

This comes almost a year after the six-day disruption of the EWL in September 2024.

That disruption was caused by an uncommon mechanical failure where a damaged axle box was dislodged and fell off the train.

The wheels of the third train-car subsequently came off the rails, causing "severe damage" to the rails and other equipment and requiring six days of repairs.

It was reported that 34 rail breaks were detected across 1.6km of tracks between Dover and Clementi stations.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) imposed an S$2.4 million fine on SMRT, S$600,000 less than the S$3 million penalty that LTA proposed on May 30.

The fine will go to the Public Transport Fund to help lower-income families with their public transport expenditures.

LTA also instructed SMRT to invest at least S$600,000 to strengthen its capabilities and address areas of improvement from the incident to improve service reliability for commuters.

"Singapore’s rail system continues to be one of the most reliable rail systems in the world," LTA added.

Top photos via Javier Lim/Mothership