SBS Transit CEO apologises for NEL MRT & LRT disruptions on Aug. 12

SBS Transit Group CEO Jeffrey Sim has apologised for the Aug. 12 North East Line (NEL) MRT and LRT service disruptions.

In his apology on Tuesday, Sim explained that the breakdown occurred due to a power trip at one of NEL's depot substation.

He added that the transport operator will work with Land Transport Authority (LTA) to prevent a recurrence.

A total of 11 MRT train stations were affected for over more than three hours starting from about 11am.

The Sengkang-Punggol LRT were disrupted as well, and fully restored only in the evening.

Power fault

According to Sim, train services between Farrer Park and Punggol Coast went down at 11am.

Not long after, SBS Transit announced the breakdown on social media.

Engineers from the transport operator traced the power fault to a power trip at an NEL depot substation.

Sim said preliminary investigations revealed that there was a failure of a power switchboard.

This failure "caused a flashover" in one of the voltage transformers, which are used to regulate power supply, Sim explained.

This tripped both the main and backup power supply, as part of a protective mechanism.

As the faulty voltage transformer could not be repaired immediately, engineers decided to bypass the affected depot substation and draw power from a different substation instead.

At 2:10pm, full service along the NEL resumed.

The breakdown lasted about three hours.

Bridging bus services were made available during the service disruptions.

Additional checks for LRT

The power fault also disrupted services of the Sengkang-Punggol LRT.

Service along the Sengkang LRT line was restored at 3:34pm, while that of Punggol LRT was restored at 4:04pm.

Restoration of full service along the LRT lines took longer as a complete restart and checks of the signalling and power systems were carried out, Sim said.

Initially, the LRT lines operated on a single track for both east and west loops "to avoid stressing the power supply from the single substation".

Full service along the LRT lines were restored at 9:20pm later that day.

"We will work closely with the LTA to prevent a recurrence of this incident," Sim said.

"We apologise to all affected commuters for the inconvenience caused," he added.

Top image via Gawain Pek, @nic2849 / Reddit