North East Line Train Services Disrupted by Power Fault

Train services on Singapore’s North East Line faced significant disruption on August 12, 2023, due to a power fault. The incident affected operations between Farrer Park and Punggol Coast MRT stations. Transport operator SBS Transit confirmed the issue and announced that free bus services would be available to assist commuters during the outage.

In addition to the North East Line disruptions, SBS Transit reported that the Sengkang-Punggol Light Rail Transit (LRT) service was also halted because of the same power fault. Passengers at various stations encountered challenges as they sought to understand the situation. At approximately 11:20 AM, individuals waiting at Boon Keng Station were informed by a security guard that no trains were operational. Signs displayed at the station indicated a complete suspension of services between Boon Keng and Punggol Coast. Despite this, no official announcements were made, leaving many passengers waiting on the platform without clear information.

Witnesses noted that a stationary train was visible at Boon Keng, sitting idle for around five minutes. The situation was similar at Woodleigh MRT Station, where, at 11:34 AM, passengers were not permitted to enter the station. A stationary train was also present in the direction of Punggol Coast, waiting for at least five minutes while station announcements indicated that recovery operations were underway.

This disruption follows a series of recent rail service interruptions in Singapore. On August 2, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow expressed disappointment over the ongoing issues, stating, “This series of recent incidents is disappointing for all of us, and we can and will do better.” His remarks came in response to an earlier incident where services on the East-West Line were suspended for five hours.

Other recent disruptions included a one-hour suspension of services on the Thomson-East Coast Line due to a signaling fault on July 1, and two instances the previous month where the Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (LRT) system faced outages because of power faults.

While SBS Transit works to resolve the current disruptions, commuters are encouraged to use the alternative bus services provided. This developing story will be updated as more information becomes available.