A day after announcing they have found the staff responsible for falsifying maintenance records, SMRT reported a “track point fault at Singapore’s East-West Line (EWL) causing delays lasting nearly an hour yesterday (Nov 4). SMRT made the announcement over Twitter at 2.53pm, advising commuters to add 30 mins to travelling time for those heading towards Jurong East from Queenstown.
To worsen expectations, the “track point fault” is a new fault unrelated to the new signalling system:
“[EWL]: Due to a track point fault, pls add 30mins train travel time from #Queenstown to #JurongEast. (Not linked to new signalling project).”
According to SMRT, the new signalling system is expected to see “teething problems”, or train delays. SMRT appears to have made the clarification above telling commuters to expect more delays.
This is the fourth delay in two week, with three disruptions on Oct 24th, 25th and 26th all at the North-South Line.
Despite the worsening rail reliability, public transport fares were raised 4.2% on Tuesday (Oct 31) and the country’s two Transport Ministers and the two SMRT CEOs being let off the hook. The government’s corrupted Public Transport Council, in a bid to help the Temasek Holdings-linked transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit, do not factor rail reliability or service delivery as variables when calculating fares – so to raise profits for the Temasek Holdings CEO, also Prime Minister’s wife, Ho Ching.