More than 300 engineers, technicians working to repair 'extensive' damage on East-West Line, says Chee Hong Tat

SINGAPORE: More than 300 engineers and technicians have been working to repair the damage to tracks and equipment on the East-West Line, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said late on Thursday (Sep 26).

On Wednesday, a component fell off a first-generation train, resulting in what authorities described as "extensive damage" to the train track and equipment between Clementi and Dover MRT stations.

This, in turn, caused a power trip that led to the disruption on the East-West Line, one of the two original lines built back in the eighties.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operator SMRT had earlier hoped to partially restore services on Friday but announced on Thursday evening that the service disruption would continue for a third day. 

"Over the last 40 hours, more than 300 of our engineers and technicians from LTA and SMRT have been working day and night to conduct repairs, to conduct checks to the damaged tracks and equipment," Mr Chee said during his visit to Ulu Pandan depot.

"As the damage is very extensive, they have to do this carefully and it requires a lot of time," he said, adding that it was a challenging task.

The workers need to replace more than 30 rail segments that have been damaged, and each of these rail segments weighs more than 1 tonne, the transport minister said.

"So it is an effort to be able to bring the new replacement in, and then to be able to replace the damaged rail segments," he noted.

The workers also need to repair the third rail and power cables supplying power to the train as well as the point machines, which require careful calibration and alignment, he added.

Mr Chee also expressed his gratitude to the workers working to fix the issues on the East-West Line. 

"They are doing their best to restore full train services as quickly as possible, or to do so safely, and then to also conduct the necessary checks and testing to make sure that when we resume full train services, it will be safe for commuters."

In a Facebook post on early Friday morning, Mr Chee also thanked commuters for their "kind understanding and showing care and concern for our workers".

WHAT HAPPENED

At about 9am on Wednesday, a faulty first-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries train that has been in service for more than 35 years was returning to Ulu Pandan Depot when its axle box dislodged and dropped, said SMRT and LTA. 

This caused one bogie - or an undercarriage with wheels - to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi stations.

In turn, this severely damaged the track and track equipment, with 34 rail breaks across 1.6km of westbound tracks between Clementi and Dover stations. 

Three machines that are used to divert trains to different tracks, a third rail that supplies power, as well as power cables and rail clips were also damaged.

The authorities said that all the Kawasaki Heavy Industries trains running on Thursday have passed the axle box functionality checks.