Bukit Panjang LRT service temporarily suspended for inspections after power fault

Train service on the Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (BPLRT) will be suspended temporarily in stages to facilitate "urgent inspections", according to the latest Facebook update by SMRT on Wednesday (Sep 28).

The suspension begins with Choa Chu Kang to Bukit Panjang stations in both directions, the statement added.

"At about 10.20am, the network encountered a power trip due to a track fault. Preliminary findings show that the damaged Current Collector Devices (CCD) on the train cars may have further affected other parts of the track network, before they were replaced after service hours last night." 

SMRT said bus bridging and free bus services are available system wide.

The suspension follows a more than hour-long delay this morning – with half the usual number of trains – after a power fault.

Operator SMRT first said in a tweet posted at 5.33am that commuters should expect a 30-minute delay. Free regular bus and bridging bus services were available, it said.

At 6.40am, SMRT said train service on the line had resumed and that the free bus services were still running. But in another tweet posted 15 minutes later, it said commuters should expect "degraded service" and longer travelling time.

​Train service along the line was disrupted on Tuesday at about 10.55pm between Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Panjang stations in both directions due to a power fault. The fault was cleared nearly two hours later at about 12.27am, according to SMRT.

In an update posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday morning, SMRT said the BPLRT was running just six trains – half the usual number - during the morning rush hour.

"This is due to a track fault yesterday evening which damaged the current collector devices on 15 trains," it said, adding that engineering staff worked through the night to assess and rectify the fault.

“Initial investigations showed a damaged rail joint detached the current collector devices on trains which passed the damaged joint. This led to delays last night from about 10pm till end of service as engineering staff sought to find the cause of power trips while the service was running."

The damaged trains are now at the BPLRT depot at Ten Mile Junction, and investigations into the incident are ongoing, SMRT said.