SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA), SMRT and SBS Transit will form a rail reliability task force to address service disruptions, as well as develop and implement "immediate solutions".
The task force will be chaired by LTA chief executive Ng Lang and include SMRT Group CEO Ngien Hoon Ping, SBS Transit Group CEO Jeffrey Sim and technical specialists drawn from across the rail sector.
It will report its findings to Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow regularly and submit its final recommendations by the end of the year, LTA and the public transport operators said in a joint news release.
The task force will review recent train disruption incidents to identify components involved that are approaching end-of-life and require replacement, upgrading or increased maintenance.
It will look into bringing forward the renewal programme for the North East Line (NEL) power system, while reviewing ways to strengthen the signalling system for the NEL and Circle Line in the short term before renewal is due.
At the same time, full technical audits of the maintenance and operations of critical systems will be carried out.
These include a review of asset conditions, maintenance processes, operational and redundancy procedures, as well as staff training and competency.
"The task force will also review service recovery processes with the view of reducing the impact of service delays to our commuters," said LTA and the transport operators.
"The task force will review procedures to improve service recovery speeds, such as reducing the number of detrainments which impact service recovery time, without compromising on commuter safety."
Training regimes will also be reviewed to ensure that officers on the ground can adequately perform service recovery during service incidents.
LTA and the operators noted that the government has earlier set aside additional S$1 billion over the next five years to further strengthen rail capabilities, scale up technology adoption and support skills upgrading for workers.
Mr Siow said that he had tasked LTA "to work together with the train operators to speed up asset upgrades, conduct joint technical audits on the critical parts of the rail system, and improve service recovery procedures".
LTA was also asked to share more information with the public on disruptions as they are investigated and the steps taken to address them.
"By keeping the public updated, I hope you can better understand the challenges and know that we are fully committed to keeping the network safe and reliable," said Mr Siow.
SMRT had on Wednesday said that recent train disruptions were unrelated incidents and do not point to wider issues with Singapore's rail network.
"These are isolated cases, not systemic issues," Mr Lam Sheau Kai, the transport operator's president of trains, told the media.
SMRT will work closely with LTA in several areas to strengthen rail reliability, Mr Lam said. This includes a detailed assessment of its rail assets as part of what he called a commitment to long-term reliability.
On Wednesday morning, train services on the Thomson-East Coast Line were disrupted for about two hours due to a signal fault.
A day before, a signalling fault on the East-West Line left services unavailable between Aljunied and Tanah Merah stations at about 11pm.
On Sep 14, a train fault occurred on the North-South Line that resulted in a 40-minute delay.
Other incidents that occurred in September include: A system fault on SBS Transit's Punggol LRT on Sep 13, which disrupted services across all 15 stations; a train fault leading to a disruption on the North-South Line on Sep 2 between Yishun and Woodlands station; and a train fault on the Circle Line on Sep 1 caused a delay between Promenade and Marina Bay station.
LTA figures released on Sep 5 showed that overall MRT reliability from July 2024 to June 2025 dropped to its lowest level in five years.
The MRT network on average clocked about 1.6 million train-km from July 2024 to June 2025 without service delays lasting more than five minutes, which is the shortest distance trains have travelled without service delays since 2020, when trains clocked about 1.45 million train-km between delays.
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The task force will be chaired by LTA chief executive Ng Lang and include SMRT Group CEO Ngien Hoon Ping, SBS Transit Group CEO Jeffrey Sim and technical specialists drawn from across the rail sector.
It will report its findings to Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow regularly and submit its final recommendations by the end of the year, LTA and the public transport operators said in a joint news release.
The task force will review recent train disruption incidents to identify components involved that are approaching end-of-life and require replacement, upgrading or increased maintenance.
It will look into bringing forward the renewal programme for the North East Line (NEL) power system, while reviewing ways to strengthen the signalling system for the NEL and Circle Line in the short term before renewal is due.
At the same time, full technical audits of the maintenance and operations of critical systems will be carried out.
These include a review of asset conditions, maintenance processes, operational and redundancy procedures, as well as staff training and competency.
"The task force will also review service recovery processes with the view of reducing the impact of service delays to our commuters," said LTA and the transport operators.
"The task force will review procedures to improve service recovery speeds, such as reducing the number of detrainments which impact service recovery time, without compromising on commuter safety."
Training regimes will also be reviewed to ensure that officers on the ground can adequately perform service recovery during service incidents.
LTA and the operators noted that the government has earlier set aside additional S$1 billion over the next five years to further strengthen rail capabilities, scale up technology adoption and support skills upgrading for workers.
Mr Siow said that he had tasked LTA "to work together with the train operators to speed up asset upgrades, conduct joint technical audits on the critical parts of the rail system, and improve service recovery procedures".
LTA was also asked to share more information with the public on disruptions as they are investigated and the steps taken to address them.
"By keeping the public updated, I hope you can better understand the challenges and know that we are fully committed to keeping the network safe and reliable," said Mr Siow.
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SMRT had on Wednesday said that recent train disruptions were unrelated incidents and do not point to wider issues with Singapore's rail network.
"These are isolated cases, not systemic issues," Mr Lam Sheau Kai, the transport operator's president of trains, told the media.
SMRT will work closely with LTA in several areas to strengthen rail reliability, Mr Lam said. This includes a detailed assessment of its rail assets as part of what he called a commitment to long-term reliability.
On Wednesday morning, train services on the Thomson-East Coast Line were disrupted for about two hours due to a signal fault.
A day before, a signalling fault on the East-West Line left services unavailable between Aljunied and Tanah Merah stations at about 11pm.
On Sep 14, a train fault occurred on the North-South Line that resulted in a 40-minute delay.
Other incidents that occurred in September include: A system fault on SBS Transit's Punggol LRT on Sep 13, which disrupted services across all 15 stations; a train fault leading to a disruption on the North-South Line on Sep 2 between Yishun and Woodlands station; and a train fault on the Circle Line on Sep 1 caused a delay between Promenade and Marina Bay station.
LTA figures released on Sep 5 showed that overall MRT reliability from July 2024 to June 2025 dropped to its lowest level in five years.
The MRT network on average clocked about 1.6 million train-km from July 2024 to June 2025 without service delays lasting more than five minutes, which is the shortest distance trains have travelled without service delays since 2020, when trains clocked about 1.45 million train-km between delays.
Continue reading...