Singapore’s train commuters flustered by massive MRT service disruption

Singapore is grappling with one of its longest railway disruptions as a service suspension caused by a train derailment enters a second day, with hundreds of thousands of commuters potentially affected.

The disruption on the East-West Line started from about 9.25am on Wednesday after a train caused a power trip when it was returning to a depot. Operator SMRT Corporation, which was established in 1987, later revealed that the power fault was caused by the train derailing.

Chairman Seah Moon Ming and Chief Executive Ngien Hoon Ping said in a statement: “The incident was the result of an unforeseen issue during the withdrawal of an old train, where a defective train axle box on one of our first-generation trains dropped and caused the wheels of a bogie to come off the running rail and hit track equipment, including the third rail and point machines, leading to the power fault.”

A bogie refers to the undercarriage of a train.

The disruption affected nine stations on the line, one of the busiest in Singapore, and free replacement bus services have been running between the affected stations.