NEL, SPLRT disruption: Electricity surge shut down backup power switchboard, says LTA
The Sengkang-Punggol LRT line was worse-hit, with train service resuming fully 10 hours later at about 9.20pm on Aug 12.
SINGAPORE - Early investigations into
the disruption on the
North East MRT Line (NEL) and the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) system on Aug 12 have shed more light on
the cause of the breakdown and why it took hours for operator SBS Transit to restore service on the affected lines.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a Facebook post on Aug 13 that a surge in electricity had damaged one of two switchboards at a substation in the NEL depot in Sengkang, which fed power to the affected rail systems.
At the same time, the electrical surge also triggered a safety feature meant to protect the second switchboard from damage, causing it to shut down as well, LTA noted.
A switchboard distributes power from electrical sources to several smaller circuits.
The authority said the two switchboards would normally have acted as backups for each other, so power can continue to be supplied even if one were to go down.
But on Aug 12, the power supply from Sengkang Depot was completely cut off as a result of both switchboards tripping, and SBS Transit had to manually connect the second working switchboard to a backup power source in Dhoby Ghaut, in order to restore train services progressively.
While LTA continues to probe the incident, which is the second lengthy service disruption to hit Singapore's rail network in two weeks, the authority and SBS Transit are also reviewing how to make the power systems more resilient, it said.
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Owing to the power fault on Aug 12, a number of passengers had to walk along the NEL tracks to get to the nearest stations, as trains travelling between an 11-station stretch of the NEL between Farrer Park and Punggol Coast stalled.
Several NEL stations were also plunged into darkness, as free bridging bus services were activated.
The disruption on the NEL lasted about three hours, from just after 11am to 2.10pm, when train service was fully restored.
The SPLRT was worse-hit, with train service resuming fully 10 hours later at about 9.20pm.
SBS Transit's group chief executive Jeffrey Sim earlier said the failure of a power switchboard at the Sengkang Depot's substation had caused an unintended discharge of electricity in a device used to regulate power supply. This resulted in the power trip that crippled the NEL and SPLRT.
This device, called a voltage transformer, converts a high voltage to a lower, safer level.
Mr Sim said the faulty voltage transformer could not be repaired immediately after the power trip, which is why SBS Transit decided to draw power from its other substation at Dhoby Ghaut.
LTA said on Aug 13 that LTA and SBS Transit engineers later worked through the night to restore power supply to the NEL depot substation and ensure safety of the system.
In addition, about 350 staff from LTA and SBS Transit, on top of regular station staff, were deployed to the affected stations to guide commuters during the breakdown.
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