Sengkang-Punggol LRT Back in Action!

In a sigh of relief for commuters, the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) system was fully operational again by the morning of August 13, according to SBS Transit.

Service Disruption Details

On August 12, a major power fault caused a near 10-hour interruption. The power failure struck just after 11 AM, affecting an 11-station segment of the North East MRT line from Farrer Park to Punggol Coast, crippling both SPLRT and NEL services.

Gradual Restoration of Services

Train services gradually resumed—Sengkang LRT was operational by 3:34 PM, followed by Punggol LRT at 4:04 PM, albeit running on a single track during the busy evening peak hours. Full services were finally reinstated by 9:20 PM.

Behind the Power Failure

Jeffrey Sim, group CEO of SBS Transit, explained that the chaos stemmed from the failure of a power switchboard at the NEL depot’s substation, leading to a flashover in the transformer that regulates power supply. This incident triggered an automatic shutdown of both main and backup power systems.

Rapid Response to the Crisis

To tackle the outage, power was sourced from a different substation in Dhoby Ghaut, as fixing the faulty transformer wasn’t a quick fix.

Commuter Experience

SBS Transit promptly apologized for the disruption, emphasizing their commitment to providing reliable service. Despite the inconvenience caused, they managed to bring services back online in a timely manner.