Repair and alternative transport costs during train line disruption factored into SMRT’s $3 million fine

Commuters at Jurong East MRT Station boarding a shuttle train to Boon Lay MRT Station on Sept 30 as the train disruption on the East West Line continues. The Straits Times

Lee Nian Tjoe

UPDATED Jun 03, 2025, 05:01 PM

Thanks for sharing!

SINGAPORE - In the wake of one of the worst MRT disruptions in Singapore’s history, SMRT poured more than $10 million to fund alternative travel arrangements and repairs. These efforts were taken into consideration when the Land Transport Authority (LTA) meted out a $3 million fine to the rail operator.

The six-day disruption on the East West MRT line between Sept 25 and Sept 30 affected about 2.6 million passengers.

Announcing the completion of investigations into the September MRT disruption, LTA said on June 3 that the financial penalty was proportionate to the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The fine collected goes to the Public Transport Fund, as legislated, which helps lower-income families defray their public transport expenditures.

In its report on the investigation findings, the LTA found SMRT’s management of the service disruption to be satisfactory, despite initial confusion in the first hours after the incident. This included the prompt activation of free public buses and bridging shuttle buses.

LTA also recognised how SMRT was quick to limit the affected sector of the East-West line - between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations - once it was safe to do so.

Shuttle train services between Boon Lay and Jurong East stations, and between Queenstown and Buona Vista stations, had allowed bridging shuttle bus services to be further optimised and help to cut the additional journey time for affected travellers, said LTA.

Besides SMRT’s own efforts, LTA’s contractors from other ongoing rail projects were also called in to help with the repair and restoration work.

The remedial work was completed on Sept 30 and normal train services resumed on Oct 1 after safety runs were conducted.

To find out what led to the disruption, LTA engaged an expert advisory panel. A specialist testing and certification company was commissioned to conduct an independent forensic analysis into how the axle box, which allows the wheels to rotate smoothly on the track, had failed. This led to extensive damage to 2.55km of track and trackside equipment and long service disruption.

The investigation concluded that degraded grease in the axle box was a likely cause of the incident. This eventually caused overheating and failure.

The LTA added that it was not possible to establish a “definitive root cause” because the parts recovered from the incident were too damaged to determine if there was initial damage sustained before the incident.

The $3 million penalty for the September 2024 East-West Line disruption is the second-highest amount levied. The highest was SMRT’s $5.4 million fine for a systemwide disruption on the North-South and East-West Lines in 2015, while it was also fined $2 million for the 2011 North-South Line disruption on Dec 15 and Dec 17.

On July 7, 2015, electrical power trips at multiple locations on the network crippled the entire North-South and East-West MRT lines for more than two hours from around 7pm, causing about 413,000 commuters on the MRT network’s most heavily-utilised lines to be inconvenienced during the evening peak hour. A tunnel leak and lack of maintenance were found to have caused the breakdown.

The 2011 North-South Line disruption was caused by sagging power-supply rails on both Dec 15 and Dec 17 as SMRT did not detect and rectify the damage completely. Combined, the two breakdowns affected 221,000 travellers.

A rail operator can be fined up to $1 million or 10 per cent of its annual fare revenue of the affected MRT line, whichever is higher.

While SMRT does not report earnings from individual lines, the public transport operator made $6.2 million before interest and tax in the 2023/2024 financial year. This includes earnings from the Bukit Panjang LRT and four MRT lines, being the North-South, East-West, Circle and Thomson-East Coast, operated by SMRT.

The rail operating assets on the various MRT lines are owned by the LTA. SMRT pays a licensing charge for the lines it operates and maintains.

Following the announced notice of penalty, SMRT has two weeks to file its written representation and another two weeks to make an appeal if it decides to do so.

Join  ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.

Thanks for sharing!