'Traction
power trip' caused late-night disruption, blackouts on NSL and
EWL
SINGAPORE: A traction power trip was what caused hour-long
disruptions to train services along the North-South Line (NSL) and
East-West Line (EWL) late on Wednesday night (Jul 12).
It also caused blackouts at several stations.
According to train operator SMRT, the power trip happened at around
11.35pm in the western sector of the both MRT lines, which affected
service between Jurong East and Kranji stations, as well as between
Queenstown and Tuas Link stations.
The fault was traced back to the Tuas Depot intake station, which
supplies power to Tuas Depot, the East-West Line from Tuas Link to
Jurong East stations, and the North-South Line from Jurong East to
Kranji stations.
"As a result, trains travelling within the affected sectors on the
network came to a halt, while some stations experienced momentary
loss of electricity supply," said SMRT's vice president for
corporate communications Patrick Nathan in response to queries from
Channel NewsAsia.
He added that the Bukit Panjang LRT network was also hit as it
draws power from Choa Chu Kang station along the affected
stretch.
SMRT first tweeted about the disruption at around midnight,
estimating that services would resume in about half an hour.
Train services between Tuas Link and Queenstown stations resumed at
around 12.20am. However in an update at 12.30am, SMRT said that
there was still no train service on the East-West Line between
Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang due to the power fault.
Eventually at 1.20am, SMRT tweeted: "Cleared: Train service and
bridging bus services have ended. Our engineers will continue to
work and rectify the fault."
Train services from Jurong East to Choa Chu Kang remained closed
until the end of service.
Mr Nathan said that SMRT's power engineers responded immediately to
the incident and service recovery measures were taken, including
activation of power supply from the Buona Vista intake station to
restore power to parts of the NSL and EWL.
Investigations into what caused the trip are still being carried
out, added Mr Nathan who apologised to commuters for the
inconvenience caused.
Source: CNA/nc