SBS Transit CEO issues public apology after major North East Line and LRT disruption
In a Facebook post at about 3.00pm, Sim said, 'We take this matter very seriously and are looking into the cause of the incident.' He acknowledged the inconvenience to thousands of commuters and stressed the company's commitment to addressing the problem.
Later that night, in a press release, Sim confirmed that the disruption was caused by a fault at a depot substation. A flashover in one of the voltage transformers regulating power supply had triggered both the main and backup systems to trip.
With the faulty transformer unable to be repaired immediately, engineers bypassed the depot substation and drew power from Dhoby Ghaut to restore service. Full NEL operations resumed at 2.10pm after extensive checks, while LRT services were restored progressively.
The Sengkang LRT resumed at 3.34pm, and Punggol LRT at 4.04pm, both running on a single track during the evening peak to avoid overloading the alternative power source. Full LRT service was only reinstated at 9.20pm.
SBS Transit confirmed that the SPLRT system was back to full service on the morning of 13 August. In a post on its X platform at about 5.30am, it again apologised for the inconvenience caused on 12 August, when SPLRT services were disrupted for about 10 hours.
SPLRT is back to full service this morning. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused yesterday.
— SBS Transit (@SBSTransit_Ltd) August 12, 2025
During the suspension, SBS Transit activated bridging buses and redirected commuters to regular bus services. Reports from stations such as Boon Keng and Serangoon described long queues and difficulty boarding buses due to crowding.
Sim said SBS Transit engineers would work with the Land Transport Authority during overnight engineering hours to restore full power to the depot substation in time for the morning of 13 August. He also pledged to review infrastructure resilience measures to prevent similar incidents.
The incident adds to a series of rail faults in recent weeks. Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow had described the spate of disruptions as 'disappointing' after earlier outages on the East-West Line, Thomson-East Coast Line, and Bukit Panjang LRT.
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