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Independent Singapore
a day ago
- Automotive
- Independent Singapore
SMRT fined S$3 million after six-day East–West Line breakdown: A closer look at what went wrong
SINGAPORE: When trains grounded to a halt on the East–West Line (EWL) from Jurong East to Buona Vista on September 25, 2024, half a million commuters found themselves in limbo for six days. On Tuesday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced it will impose a S$3 million penalty on SMRT, citing the gravity of the incident and the costs already borne by the rail operator. Here's how a seemingly small mechanical failure cascaded into one of Singapore's most disruptive rail incidents in recent memory—and how both LTA and SMRT are racing to ensure it never happens again. How a dislodged axle box sparked six days of chaos On the morning of Sept 25, a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) train was being withdrawn from service near Dover Station on its way back to Ulu Pandan Depot. That routine move took a sudden, unexpected turn: one of the axle boxes—an essential housing that supports the train's wheels—came loose and fell off the track. As the train continued on its journey, the third carriage's bogie (wheel assembly) derailed, gouging 2.55 km of rail and trackside equipment, including power cables and the third rail that supplies electricity. Passengers on board felt a burning smell; SMRT immediately halted the train at Clementi and evacuated riders safely. But the derailed bogie had already ripped up track and cables between Dover and Ulu Pandan, forcing LTA to suspend EWL services for six days until repairs were completed on Sept 30. Services resumed on Oct 1, but not before thousands of journeys were severely delayed or rerouted. LTA's findings: Degraded grease and deferred maintenance LTA's thorough investigation—supported by an independent forensic analysis from SGS Testing and Control Services—could not pinpoint a single 'smoking gun,' but it zeroed in on a likely culprit: degraded grease within the axle box. Over time, this grease failed to lubricate the bearings properly, causing excessive friction and heat. High temperatures, hidden alerts : A Hot Axle Box Detection System (HABDS) near Lavender station had registered 118°C on the affected axle box in the hours before the derailment—nearly twice the normal operating temperature of 65°C. Unfortunately, an internal system error at SMRT meant that maintenance staff could not identify which train had triggered the alert. As a result, no follow-up action was taken. : A Hot Axle Box Detection System (HABDS) near Lavender station had registered 118°C on the affected axle box in the hours before the derailment—nearly twice the normal operating temperature of 65°C. Unfortunately, an internal system error at SMRT meant that maintenance staff could not identify which train had triggered the alert. As a result, no follow-up action was taken. Chevron springs and catastrophic failure : As the bearings overheated, the rubber layers between the chevron springs (metal plates bonded with rubber) began to burn. LTA's report found traces of burnt rubber and metal debris along the track, indicating that the springs disintegrated first. With support weakened, the axle box eventually dislodged completely. : As the bearings overheated, the rubber layers between the chevron springs (metal plates bonded with rubber) began to burn. LTA's report found traces of burnt rubber and metal debris along the track, indicating that the springs disintegrated first. With support weakened, the axle box eventually dislodged completely. Extended overhaul intervals: Regular preventive maintenance on this train on September 10, 2024, showed no anomalies, and the bearings and springs appeared nominal. However, SMRT had twice extended its overhaul intervals—beyond the stipulated 500,000 km—first to 575,000 km in August 2022, and then to 750,000 km in August 2024, citing overall fleet reliability. By the time of the incident, the train had clocked 690,000 km since its last overhaul in 2018. LTA notes that, had this train been overhauled 'in a more timely manner,' degraded grease could have been replaced sooner. The S$3 million penalty: Proportionate costs and public interest In determining the penalty, LTA weighed several factors: SMRT had already spent over S$10 million on emergency repairs, free shuttle buses and trains, and allowing commuters free travel between Jurong East and Buona Vista for the six-day duration. Rather than funnelling the fine to general revenue, LTA will channel the S$3 million into the Public Transport Fund, which supports lower-income families with travel subsidies—an acknowledgement that no matter how many repairs happen behind the scenes, commuters shoulder the immediate impact. SMRT Trains posted a net profit of S$7.5 million on revenues of S$886.7 million—meaning a S$3 million fine, while significant, is proportionate. Lessons learned, and the road ahead For half a million daily riders, six days without EWL service underscored how a single mechanical failure can ripple across an entire city's routines—from late-night hospital shifts to early-morning school commutes. LTA's final report makes one thing clear: routine maintenance and monitoring data must be treated as urgent red flags, not background noise. SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai acknowledged at a briefing that, despite decades of reliable service, 'a convergence of factors'—delayed train deliveries, extended overhaul intervals, supply-chain bottlenecks—'caught them off guard.' He added, 'In hindsight, we could perhaps have exercised greater caution in how we managed the transition and decommissioning of older trains.'
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
SMRT fined S$3M for September's train disruption; funds to help low-income families
Photo: FB screengrab/SMRT SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced a S$3 million fine against Singapore public transport operator SMRT due to a six-day MRT disruption on the East-West Line (EWL) in September last year. The penalty will go to the Public Transport Fund to help lower-income families with their public transport expenses, Bernama reported. LTA said the disruption from Sept 25 to 30 last year was likely caused by a degraded grease in the train's axle box, which caused it to overheat and fail. 'Degraded grease can cause increased wear and tear of the axle bearings, eventually causing overheating and failure,' LTA said in its Facebook post. LTA noted that burnt rubber and metal parts from the chevron springs were found along the track where the train passed. However, LTA said it was not possible to establish a definitive root cause. 'LTA also found that SMRT had extended its overhaul interval for the incident train beyond its stipulated maintenance requirement of 500,000km to 575,000km in August 2022 and 750,000 km in August 2024. These extensions were carried out based on their internal procedures, without any detailed engineering and risk assessment, as axle box failures are not common,' it stated. See also Transport Minister apologises for MRT power disruptions In deciding the penalty amount, LTA took into account the over S$10 million SMRT had already spent on repair works and on providing free alternative bus and shuttle train services at affected stations during the disruption period. Train services fully resumed on Oct 1, 2024, after six days of repair work. The following month, LTA announced a decline in the Rail Service Reliability Performance , particularly for the East-West Line (EWL). /TISG Read also: F&B operators near Buona Vista MRT station said their sales dropped up to 70% amid East-West Line service disruption
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Singapore's SMRT fined S$3m over six-day East-West Line disruption that derailed train and hit 500,000 commuters daily
SINGAPORE, June 4 — Singapore rail operator SMRT will be fined S$3 million (RM9.9 million) for a six-day disruption on the East-West Line in September 2024 that affected about 500,000 train journeys daily, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced. 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.
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Analysis: Are fines the most effective punishment for train disruptions?
SINGAPORE: Public transport operator SMRT faces a S$3 million (US$2.3 million) fine over a major incident on its East-West Line last year. But experts told CNA that in Singapore's context, it would be more crucial to relook the dynamic between operators and the Land Transport Authority (LTA). For example, a question that needs to be asked is who should be responsible for making decisions on the trade-off between reliability and cost effectiveness, said one observer. Their comments came after the LTA and the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) released reports on Tuesday (Jun 3) detailing the factors that contributed to the six-day disruption in September 2024. These included the maintenance schedule for the incident train being extended beyond stipulated intervals. 'I think the more important thing is not the fine, but what will be done at SMRT as well as at LTA to implement improved processes for evaluating maintenance decisions and monitoring reliability,' said Associate Professor Walter Theseira of the Singapore University of Social Sciences' business school. Transport fares and public funds go towards the running of Singapore's trains, and hence "it is not wrong" to seek more cost-effective ways of maintenance, he said. 'But there may need to be more oversight and collaboration between the operator and LTA in making these decisions.' The authority said on Tuesday that since the September incident, it has strengthened oversight of areas such as operators' internal procedures to adjust maintenance schedules. Assoc Prof Theseira added that he did not think operators and their management were motivated by trying to avoid fines. When deciding how big a fine to impose, LTA said it took into consideration the costs that SMRT bore for repairs and providing free bridging buses, regular bus services and shuttle train services. These came up to more than S$10 million. An estimated 500,000 out of 2.8 million train journeys were affected on each day of the disruption. Services were disrupted along nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown. Associate Professor Raymond Ong, a transport infrastructure researcher at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said the S$3 million fine was appropriate given the number of stations affected. He noted that a bigger fine was given for an incident in 2015 that took down the entire North-South Line and East-West Line for hours. Past fines for train disruptions and incidents In 2018, SMRT was fined a total of S$1.9 million over the Bishan Tunnel flooding incident in 2017 as well as a separate accident near Pasir Ris station in 2016, which left two SMRT trainees dead. In 2015, SMRT was fined S$5.4 million for Singapore's worst train disruption at the time, which affected 413,000 commuters. This remains the largest fine to date. SMRT was found to be fully responsible for the incident and to have fallen short in maintenance – failing to address water seepage in the tunnel between Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place stations, for example. In 2014, SMRT was fined S$1.6 million for four incidents that took place over 2013 and 2014, which included SMRT train drivers running red light signals. SBS Transit was fined S$50,000 in 2014 for a 40-minute disruption caused by carelessness during maintenance works at Potong Pasir station. In 2013, both SMRT and SBS Transit were fined a total of S$1.1 million for incidents over 2012 and 2013. SMRT was fined S$860,000 for rail defects on the Circle Line, a safety breach at Ulu Pandan depot, its handling of a trackside fire at Newton Station (which incurred the highest fine of S$300,000) and for launching only three trains –instead of the scheduled four – from Bukit Panjang LRT Depot. SBS Transit was fined S$250,000 for a service disruption on the NEL which led to stranded commuters having to wait in the haze for shuttle bus services. In 2012, SMRT was fined S$2 million for two disruptions in Dec 2011 that affected 221,000 commuters. The effort spent to quickly and safely recover service while minimising disruption to commuters is a key mitigating factor, said Assoc Prof Ong. He said a fine was a 'logical and handy tool' that could be used, but also stressed it was more important for the operator and regulator to learn from the incident and improve maintenance regimes. Electrical engineering expert Teo Chor Kok however said the fine could be higher since there were multiple lapses, though he acknowledged that financial penalties were ineffective in leading to change. Noting that the stipulated overhaul interval for trains was 500,000 km, he questioned SMRT's decision to increase this twice and up to 750,000km a month before the incident. An overhaul refers to a complete tear-down and rebuild to restore a train to an "as-good-as-new" condition. By the time of the incident, the train had logged 690,000km since its last overhaul in 2018. 'We can give (an) engineering error of 10 per cent, but 690,000km is (a gross) management lapse,' said Mr Teo. The extent of damage to the tracks – 46 rail breaks along a 2.55km stretch – signals that the operator did not stop the train when something was wrong, he added. TSIB noted in its report that this was due to staff believing that a high temperature warning was a false one, due to a system error not detecting which train was experiencing the issue. CNA also asked experts whether Singapore could consider Hong Kong's approach, where its train operator was made to give commuters a 50 per cent fare concession for a day due to three separate service disruptions this year. This was on top of a HK$19.2 million (S$3.2 million) fine. Assoc Prof Theseira pointed out that SMRT's S$3 million fine could be used to provide blanket concessions, but in Singapore's case, LTA has already announced that it will go towards helping needy commuters. He added that in Singapore, fare revenues alone do not cover the operating and maintenance costs for public transport operators. 'Reducing their fare revenue directly would just have the effect of later requiring more public funding to ensure operations are sustainable,' he said. This is why proposals to cut fares or stop fare increases don't produce the effect of "punishing" the operator, said Assoc Prof Theseira. 'In the end, public subsidies are required, so it is actually punishing the taxpayer.' ON THE OVERHAUL REGIME Assoc Prof Theseira said the findings on the causes of the incident pointed to a failure to fully understand the risks of adjusting the maintenance and overhaul regime of the train's axle boxes. One of these boxes had failed and dropped from the train and onto the tracks. LTA gives operators flexibility to make tweaks according to operation experience and engineering analysis because operating conditions differ, and the manufacturer's recommendations may not necessarily be appropriate, he said. Assoc Prof Ong noted that SMRT was in the process of overhauling its first-generation trains when the incident took place. 'It's unfortunate ... because they are already overhauling, and they are all queuing up to be overhauled.' President of SMRT Trains Lam Sheau Kai said on Tuesday that the operator's overhaul regime had served it well over the past 38 years. 'What may have caught us off-guard this time was the convergence of factors - delays in new train deliveries due to COVID-19, our efforts to balance and adjust overhaul schedules, and the lag in receiving critical spare parts.' He added that for 'rare, black swan events like COVID-19', it was important that SMRT and LTA come together to 'reassess collectively'. LTA has said that going forward, it will require rail operators to inform them of extensions to overhaul intervals. Assoc Prof Theseira said LTA might have been in a better position to question and oversee SMRT's decisions on maintenance schedules, though he acknowledged that the relationship was complex - because of the operator's need to, again, be both reliable and cost-effective. The operator is expected to take steps to manage costs, but it may be that LTA has more expertise and responsibility to make the decision together with SMRT, he said. 'We should certainly look at whether there was open communication between the operator and LTA on the operating constraints given the pandemic supply chain shortages and (the) need to keep operating the (first-generation) KHI trains,' he said. If SMRT had shortened the overhaul interval for the defective axle box, it could have prevented the entire incident - but there would have been costs involved, and not just monetary ones, said Assoc Prof Theseira. Fewer trains would be available for operations due to maintenance, meaning reduce capacity during peak periods. 'Decisions that would have avoided this would have had consequences of their own, that would also affect the public," he noted.
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
SMRT to be fined S$3m for major East-West Line disruption in September 2024
Transport operator SMRT will be fined S$3 million for the major East-West Line disruption last September. After about eight months of investigations, The Land Transport Authority said the likely cause of the incident was degraded grease in the axle box. An axle box sits below a train carriage, allowing wheels to rotate smoothly on tracks. In the September 2024 incident, the axle box got dislodged and eventually, the train led to the damage of over two kilometres of track. Nadirah Zaidi reports.
