Fault on North-South MRT line that disrupted morning rush hour resolved after 5 hours
A track point fault on the North-South Line (NSL) that triggered delays of up to 25 minutes on Wednesday morning during rush hour was resolved more than five hours after it was flagged.
This is the second disruption on the line during the morning peak hour in three days. On Monday, the NSL was hit by a track fault.
A track point fault – a glitch affecting a switch that allows trains to change tracks – occurred between Sembawang and Admiralty MRT stations at 6.45am, transport operator SMRT said on Facebook.
SMRT said in a Facebook post that remedying the track point fault required staff to go to the track and check the faulty point machine, which is used to control train movements at rail junctions when trains move from one track to another.
“For safety, once the fault was detected, trains moved at a slow speed of 5kmh, resulting in commuters being advised to add 25 minutes (of) train travel time,” it said.
Wednesday’s incident was unrelated to the NSL track fault incident on Monday, the operator added.
Giving an update on Twitter at about 12.40pm, SMRT said staff had cleared the fault. Regular train service resumed shortly after.
SMRT first announced the delay in a tweet at 6.58am, when it told commuters to expect to add 10 minutes to their travel time between Yishun and Woodlands, adding that free bus services were available between those stations.
The delay was extended to 20 minutes at 7.52am and increased to 25 minutes at 8.59am.
At around 8am, SMRT said on Facebook that engineers were on-site to recover service, while trains were moving at a slower speed between Woodlands and Yishun stations in both directions.
Commuters were advised by the transport operator to take alternative routes, such as the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), to get to the city.
Wednesday’s incident comes after commuters on the NSL and TEL were held up by separate glitches on Monday.
It is the fourth disruption in slightly over a week, with the TEL also plagued by delays on Feb 2 due to a train fault.
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