1 month ago
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SINGAPORE: A trip in the main and backup power supply at a depot substation led to an hours-long disruption of train services on the North East Line (NEL) and Sengkang-Punggol LRT on Tuesday (Aug 12).
Preliminary investigations revealed that there was a failure of the power switchboard, causing a flashover in one of the voltage transformers that is used to regulate the power supply, SBS Transit said in a press release on Tuesday evening.
"This resulted in a trip in both the main and backup power supply as part of the power protection mechanism," it added.
The power fault led to a three-hour disruption of NEL services, which affected 11 stations between Farrer Park and Punggol MRT stations.
The faulty voltage transformer could not be repaired immediately and a decision was taken to bypass the depot substation and draw power from the other substation at Dhoby Ghaut so that train services could resume, said SBS Transit.
"Our engineers also carried out extensive checks to ensure that the fault will not impact the operational stations," it added.
Power was progressively restored to the affected stations and NEL services fully resumed at 2.10pm.
Commuters wait to board a bus outside Serangoon MRT station during a train service disruption along the North East Line on Aug 12, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)
Services on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT were also down for about five hours due to the power fault.
Recovery works on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT had to be carried out in stages to ensure a steady increase of the electrical load and prevent another power trip as both the NEL and Sengkang-Punggol LRT were now relying on a shared substation, said SBS Transit.
To ensure the safe running of Sengkang-Punggol LRT services, a "complete restart" and checks of the signalling and power systems, as well as the LRT vehicles, had to be carried out.
"This took additional time before power on the Sengkang LRT was restored at 3.34pm while service on the Punggol LRT resumed at 4.04pm," said SBS Transit.
"However, to avoid stressing the power supply from the single substation, a decision was made to operate the Sengkang-Punggol LRT services on a single track for both the east and west loops during the evening peak periods."
Free bridging and regular bus services continue to be available to serve LRT commuters. These bus services were also available during the NEL disruption.
SBS Transit engineers, together with Land Transport Authority (LTA) engineers, will be working during engineering hours on Tuesday night to restore power supply to the NEL depot substation.
"This will allow full service to be available for the Sengkang-Punggol LRT when service commences tomorrow," it said. "We apologise to all affected commuters for the inconvenience caused."
