SMRT explains fault, will refund passengers

Transport operator SMRT said that the train fault on the North-South line during Thursday’s evening peak hour was caused by a damaged third rail between Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall MRT stations.

This resulted in four trains stalling – one at Braddell and Orchard stations, and two at Dhoby Ghaut station, it said in a media statement early Friday morning.

The train operator elaborated that traction power was switched off to allow passengers to get out of the trains, as well as to allow their engineers to go onsite to attend to the fault. The rail was repaired by 9:52pm, it added.

Preliminary investigations during the outage revealed that about 40-metres of power rail was damaged between City Hall and Dhoby Ghaut stations, the train operator earlier said.

SMRT said it activated about 300 staff on the ground to assist passengers and resolve the fault.

[Slideshow: North-South Line MRT breakdown]

The outage, which started at 6:56pm, affected stations in both directions from Bishan to Marina Bay, according to an SMRT spokesperson.

Bus bridging services were provided between Marina Bay and Bishan stations, as well as between Bishan and Ang Mo Kio.

The North-bound train service between Marina Bay and Bishan stations was announced closed for the night, though before midnight SMRT said that train service had resumed at 11:40pm.

Passengers who were affected by the disruption can file a claim for refund at the Passenger Service Centre of any SMRT station, it said.

SMRT said it “apologises for the inconvenience caused”.