3-hour NEL disruption traced to power fault
A power fault led to a three-hour-long disruption between Serangoon and Punggol stations on the North East Line (NEL) yesterday.
Train services came to a halt between the two stations at about 7am, and resumed after repairs were completed at 9.53am.
Services between HarbourFront and Serangoon stations continued to operate during yesterday's stoppage.
Free regular and bridging bus services were also provided at designated bus stops between Serangoon and Punggol stations.
There are four other stations between these two stations.
Bridging buses and free bus rides ceased at 10.18am.
"We apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused," said NEL operator SBS Transit.
In a statement, it noted that the fault occurred in the overhead catenary system, which supplies power to trains. The NEL is the only MRT line to be powered by the system, which is installed on the ceiling of train tunnels.
SBS Transit said a segment of the system was damaged at Buangkok station and repairs were carried out immediately.
Its engineers found that the insulator in the overhead catenary system had failed.
"This was similar to the fault that occurred in February 2020 where the insulator was a two-piece design that had fractured, causing it to fail," said SBS Transit.
Following that incident, it decided to replace the two-piece insulator with a single piece.
Replacement works could be carried out only from September last year due to a delay caused by Covid-19.
About 30 per cent of the 112 insulators have been changed so far.
SBS Transit said that following yesterday's incident, it will be accelerating the replacement of the remaining insulators and has targeted completing this by June this year, instead of September as originally planned.
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