Singapore's SMRT fined S$3m over six-day East-West Line disruption that derailed train and hit 500,000 commuters daily
LTA said the fine is proportionate given the circumstances, including SMRT's costs for repairs and free bus and shuttle services during the disruption between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations, according to a report in The Straits Times today.
The disruption began on September 25, 2024, when a train's axle box — a component linking the wheels to the axle — dislodged near Dover station while being withdrawn from service.
The dislodged part caused a bogie to derail, severely damaging 2.55km of track and equipment such as power cables and the third rail that supplies electricity to trains.
Investigations found that degraded grease likely caused the axle bearings to overheat, leading to the failure of the axle box and its mounting chevron springs, which then disintegrated due to the heat.
A monitoring system detected an abnormally high temperature of 118°C on the affected axle box earlier that day, but a system error prevented SMRT from identifying the train, and no action was taken.
The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau also investigated and considered two potential causes: failure of the bearings due to degraded grease, or deterioration of the chevron springs, but could not determine the more likely cause due to extensive damage.
LTA noted that SMRT had extended overhaul intervals for the train from the required 500,000km to 750,000km by 2024, with the affected train having travelled 690,000km since its last overhaul in 2018.
The authority said timely overhaul could have detected degraded grease earlier, and has since tightened oversight of maintenance schedule changes for critical systems.
Following the incident, SMRT overhauled all similar trains with over 500,000km mileage and introduced improvements including better temperature monitoring, alert systems, and reduced train withdrawal speeds.
All remaining first-generation Kawasaki trains will be phased out by September, and future train purchases will include longer buffers for potential supply disruptions.
Train services resumed on October 1, 2024, after extensive restoration work was completed.
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