East-West Line hit by midweek delays, fourth time track fault snarls commute in June

Commuters travelling to work during the morning rush hour on Wednesday (June 14) were affected by train delays caused by a track circuit fault at the Buona Vista station along the East-West Line (EWL).The fault has yet to be rectified, more than three hours after train operator SMRT first announced it via Twitter around 8.15am.

Commuters were initially told to add 15 minutes to their commute between City Hall and Dover stations. The delay worsened to 25 minutes at one stage.

As of 11.30am, SMRT has yet to resume normal train service on the affected stretch of the EWL.

Wednesday’s delay makes it the second such incident for SMRT this week, and fourth for the month.

On Monday, a signaling fault at 9.20am on the North-South Line added an additional 20 minutes of travel time for commuters travelling between Choa Chu Kang and Jurong East.

There were two other delays on the NSL on the first two days of June, following the start of SMRT’s weekday signalling tests.

In a blog post made last week, SMRT said that the June holidays presented the “best opportunity” to carry out tests on the new signalling system as there are not enough engineering hours — from 1.30am to 4.30am each day — to adequately test the system.
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The transport operator also noted that the new signalling system requires tests on an existing line with various train fleets — unlike new MRT train lines, on which intensive testing can be conducted with a single type of train before passenger service starts.