Last night (7 July), Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) train services along the North-South Line and the East-West Line unprecedentedly broke down together simultaneously.
Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew expressed his concern about the breakdown of two major train service lines.
On a Facebook post, he assured commuters that engineers from SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) would work throughout the night to ensure that train services will run smoothly today (8 July).
Initial plans to suspend train services at the North-South Line from 11am to 4pm today were cancelled.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had earlier urged commuters to adjust their travel plans or take alternative routes via bus services or unaffected train service lines.
It turns out, however, that there will be no suspension of services after all; no anomalies were observed since train services resumed along the problematic lines this morning.
Free bus services and free train rides will also be halted by 12 noon today — the train services may finally be running as per normal.
Earlier this morning, Minister Lui clarified in the interview that there will be no plans to call for a Committee of Inquiry (COI) with regards to the breakdown of train services, and he also dropped a warning that investigations will take a few days.
He asserted that it will be more useful for SMRT and the LTA to concentrate on finding the “definitive cause” of the unprecedented service breakdown.
If we can find it (the definitive cause), we can take the necessary corrective actions and let commuters have a peace of mind knowing we have resolved the faults that caused the disruption
– Minister Lui Tuck Yew
In an interview with The Straits Times, Minister Lui explained that preliminary investigation shows that the breakdown of the train service lines may be down to a faulty train or a couple of wires.
There was a train that experienced arching (electrical spark), we will have to drill down further to see if this is the only cause or if it contributed to the incident
During checks on Tuesday night SMRT also found a couple of wires that they had to change. This was around the Bishan area but we do not know if it was the cause.
– Minister Lui Tuck Yew
We really doubt that a train or a couple of wires is actually capable of causing such a massive train disruption.
But, let’s just leave it to Minister Lui and his engineers to conduct their investigation before we start pointing fingers.
Here is a video of the interview with Minister Lui Tuck Yew, courtesy of The Straits Times
There are several positive signs —
– The North-South Line suspension from 11am-4pm is called off.
– Free bus and train services will end by 12 noon today.
We have yet to receive any official confirmation that trains on the affected lines (North South Lines and East West Lines) is back to normal. Let’s just wait for the official confirmation and for the investigation report.
Meanwhile, this is just another monotonous Wednesday at work for most of us.
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Featured Image via The Straits Times
With refrences from Channel NewsAsia, Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times, The Straits Times
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