First of 57 new trains begins service on North-South Line
By Kenneth Lim
Posted 16 Apr 2017 12:30
SINGAPORE: The first of 57 new trains fitted with an upgraded signalling system made its debut on the North-South Line (NSL) on Sunday (Apr 16) morning, as part of a two-month trial conducted by rail operator SMRT.
Besides the new signaling system, the new trains are also fitted out with several new features.
These include LCD display panels that provide information on landmarks and places of interest near the various MRT stations, LED lighting, which has been said to be more energy efficient than the usual fluorescent lighting and marked spaces in the train cars for wheelchair users.
Sunday’s trial also marked the first full day trial since such tests began in March. Trains ran on the new system from the start of the day, compared to just during the final hour of service previously.
During these trials, LTA and SMRT officers track the system’s response to different situations and the trains’ ability to keep to schedules.
The new signalling system - first announced by SMRT in 2012 to the tune of S$195 million - allows trains to run closer to each other, which in turn shortens the waiting time for trains at stations from the current 120 seconds to 100 seconds.
continue reading here :
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...e/3681456.html
Yah right taking taxpayers’ money to buy assets for a private run company . So can we expect that there will be no more disruption in services on NSL ?
NSL and EWL hit by morning delays, Khatib track fault took 5 hours to clear
Published: 9:21 AM, April 18, 2017
Updated: 1:34 PM, April 18, 2017
SINGAPORE – The morning rush hour commute on Tuesday (April 18) was hit by delays on both the North-South (NSL) and East-West Lines (EWL), with a track fault at Khatib station taking more than five hours to resolve.
The second reported track fault at Simei station took over two hours to resolve, and caused delays of between five to 20 minutes for commuters.
“Track circuit faults occurred on the North-South and East-West Lines this morning, resulting in trains having to travel at a slower speed for commuter safety,” Mr Patrick Nathan, SMRT’s vice president for corporate information and communications, said in a statement.
He assured that “faulty track circuits will no longer cause prolonged delays for commuters” once a new signalling system is in place. SMRT has been testing the new system, which promises speedier rides, on the NSL.
“In the new signalling system that is currently being tested, the ageing track circuits will be replaced with a more advanced system that is more reliable as it is built with multiple redundancies for greater reliability," Mr Nathan added. “After we renew the signalling system, faulty track circuits will no longer cause prolonged delays for commuters.”
Originally scheduled to be rolled out by the end of last year, the new system needs more testing to ensure its reliability, the Land Transport Authority has said previously. It is unclear when the system would be fully operational.
Tuesday’s train delays first began at about 7:20 am, when the train operator tweeted that a train fault at Khatib station was affecting service between Bishan and Khatib stations. The initial travel delay of about 10 minutes grew to 20 minutes around 8:50am.
The NSL delay progressively shortened, but the track fault was not cleared until 12.40pm, more than five hours after it was first reported.
[EWL] UPDATE: Pls cater 10 mins additional travel time from #PayaLebar to #Simei. We are working to recover service.
Another track fault at the Simei station was also reported on the East-West Line on Tuesday. At 8:35am, SMRT alerted commuters to the problem and said to expect from a 10-minute delay while travelling between the Paya Lebar and Simei stations. The travel delay increased to 15 minutes at around 9:20am.
SMRT took more than two hours to clear the track fault on the EWL, and reported the fault cleared at around 11am.
continue reading here :
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...h-hour-commute
Well done LTA & SMRT . After installing the new signalling system and new trains still got service breakdown . Clap clap clap .
Woodleigh MRT station closed due to security incident after ‘suspicious substance’ found
Posted 18 Apr 2017 14:03
Updated 18 Apr 2017 14:37
SINGAPORE: Police on Tuesday (Apr 18) said they are “managing a security incident” at Woodleigh MRT station after a suspicious substance was found.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) issued alerts on social media stating that the MRT station is temporarily closed, and they are at the scene with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
SCDF officers in protective clothing were seen at the station entrance.
Assistant station manager Mailyn B Carriaga told Channel NewsAsia that white powder (pictured below) had been found in three to four places at the station’s concourse area.
SBS Transit, which runs the North East Line, said in a tweet at 1.49pm that the station is closed and free bus rides are available at bus stops between Serangoon and Potong Pasir MRT stations.
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Baking flour sparks shutdown of Woodleigh MRT, second security scare this month
Published: 5:06 PM, April 18, 2017
Updated: 5:10 PM, April 18, 2017
SINGAPORE — Nearly three hours after the Woodleigh MRT station was closed on Tuesday (April 18) because of the discovery of a “suspicious substance”, authorities gave the all-clear for the station to reopen at 4.20pm.
The suspicious substance found at Woodleigh MRT Station was later determined to be baking flour.
Dozens of officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s hazardous materials (hazmat) team and the police had responded to the incident earlier.
TODAY reporters on the scene saw at least one SCDF hazmat vehicle, a fire engine and at least four police vehicles outside Woodleigh station. A few members of the public were seen milling outside the shuttered gates to the station.
Speaking at Woodleigh MRT Station shortly after the station reopened, Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir SMC Sitoh Yih Pin said: “Much as we always hope that nothing will happen, we must always be prepared in case anything happens.”
“Thankfully, the station is opened (before the peak hour). So our residents won’t be too inconvenienced,” Mr Sitoh added.
continue reading here :
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...ty-scare-month
Glad nothing happened. Maybe this was just a test ?
Man arrested after using baking flour to mark running trail at Woodleigh MRT station
Feng Yuan Wen
Apr 19, 2017 06:00 am
Just over two weeks after Hougang MRT Station was closed for security checks related to an unattended bag, a similar incident occurred at Woodleigh Station yesterday.
Woodleigh, which is the third stop from Hougang on the North East Line, was closed for about three hours from 1.25pm as a precaution after a cleaner found suspicious white substance on the premises.
The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) hazardous materials (hazmat) team later determined the white substance to be flour.
A 69-year-old man was arrested for an offence of public nuisance after leaving the flour in the station, the police said.
Two other men, aged 53 and 70, who were with the suspect, also assisted with police investigations.
The police said: “The white substance was subsequently established to be flour used to mark a trail for their running route.”
The New Paper understands the three men are local joggers from the running group Seletar Hash House Harriers. Its website shows that a run was scheduled yesterday at 5.30pm from Block 150, Serangoon North Avenue 2.
In hashing, advance runners set a course for other runners by marking out a trail with white flour, toilet paper and/or chalk marks.
When TNP arrived at Woodleigh at 2.10pm, the station had been cordoned off.
SCDF’s hazmat officers collected at least seven vials of samples of the substance that had been sprinkled at various locations - near trees, grass patches and stairs outside the station, as well as at the concourse level in the station.
While some commuters were frustrated by the station closure, most understood why it had to be done.
Reaction on TNP’s Facebook page was mostly positive, with some leaving words of praise for the police and SCDF officers, thanking them for their hard work.
But elsewhere online, there were snide remarks about the “over-reaction” of the authorities in closing Woodleigh.
continue reading here :
http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/man...gh-mrt-station
It is nice to see the authorities respond quickly to the incident. The safety of the commuters should always be a priority . Question now is how safe is the mrt system is ?
A plea to the bosses : Please do not penalise your workers for being late to work due to the delay in mrt services. It is not your workers’ fault who are late . But rather you should blame SMRT ; LTA and Ministry of Transport for this latest disruption in services .
Running group apologises for security scare at Woodleigh MRT station
Posted 19 Apr 2017 22:20
Updated 19 Apr 2017 22:41
SINGAPORE: Local running group Seletar Hash House Harriers apologised on Wednesday (Apr 19) for causing alarm and inconvenience in Tuesday’s (Apr 18) security scare at Woodleigh MRT station.
The group said in a press release that three of its members were marking a trail for a run scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The trio were planning a running route run that planned to take runners from Bidadari towards Woodleigh Close and they chose to use the MRT underpass as it provided the safest way to cross Upper Serangoon road, the statement said.
Police arrested one of the trio, a 69-year-old man for causing alarm, while the remaining two men, aged 53 and 70, assisted police with investigations. Their actions had triggered a temporary closure of the MRT station for about three hours.
According to the Seletar Hash House Harriers, the trio had left baking flour at three to four points within the station’s premises. This was part of marking a hash running trail - a practice which typically involves using flour, chalk or tissue to mark out a trail for runners.
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North-South and Circle Line improve, East-West unchanged
Report card on rail reliability
Adrian Lim, The Straits Times
Apr 25, 2017 06:00 am
In operation since 1987, the East-West MRT Line (EWL) and the North-South MRT Line (NSL) are the oldest in Singapore and in the midst of an overhaul.
Their reliability is uneven.
While the NSL’s reliability has risen by 15 per cent, the EWL’s remained unchanged for the 12-month period ending March 31 this year.
The reason: rail upgrading works of the NSL have generally been carried out ahead of EWL’s.
Operator SMRT, however, is “confident” that the EWL will improve in reliability as its upgrading works catch up with NSL’s, its chief executive Desmond Kuek said yesterday, at a briefing on the company’s rail operations.
“Our data show that parts of our network that have been renewed and upgraded are performing well. This gives us confidence… we will see stepped improvements in reliability,” Mr Kuek added.
He also said that in the next few weeks, SMRT will intensify the trials of a new signalling system for the NSL, by putting in more trains during tests.
The EWL is being equipped with the same signalling system too, but it has yet to be fully installed for the trials to be conducted.
The reliability of trains is measured by what is known as Mean Kilometre Between Failure (MKBF). It refers to the average distance travelled by trains before facing a delay of more than five minutes.
For NSL, the annual MKBF is 180,000km as at 31 March, an improvement over the 156,000km as at 31 Dec last year.
The EWL, however, registered an unchanged MKBF of 145,000km.
But for the eight-year-old Circle Line, the latest MKBF is 282,000km, a 24 per cent improvement over the previous 228,000km.
The reason the trials of the NSL’s new signalling system is being intensified is to simulate the train frequency on a typical week day.
They will arrive up to two minutes apart instead of up to three minutes as on a typical Sunday, which is when the trials are done.
The tests, which started on April 16, are expected to last two months.
The replacement of the power-supplying third-rail for the NSL and EWL will also be finished in “the next one month or so”, said the managing director of SMRT Trains, Mr Lee Ling Wee.
Last year, third-rail problems caused 18 delays that lasted more than five minutes.
continue reading here :
http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/nor...west-unchanged
Sure or not got improve ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Naturalists
From worse to bad is considered an improvement right?
So would you consider this as fake news ?
Meaningless statistics behind the SMRT’s claims of improvement for its MRT lines
By Leong Sze Hian on April 25, 2017 Opinion, Transport
Reliability of MRT lines improves
I refer to the article “Reliability of North-South and Circle MRT Lines improves; East-West Line maintains same standard” (Straits Times, 24 Apr 2017).
It states that “In the year ending Q1, the NSL clocked an average of 180,000km before a delay lasting more than 5 mins, bettering the 156,000km registered in the year ending Q4, 2016.”
Trains travelled longer distances before delays?
According to an article “MRT network performance up 30 per cent in 2016 from 2015” (Straits Times, 12 Jan 2017) that was published earlier this year – “last year, trains clocked 174,000 train-km travelled between delays of more than five minutes, a 30 per cent increase from 133,000 train-km in 2015.”
Last year’s was 174,000 or 156,000 km?
So, how is it that “last year, trains clocked 174,000 train-km travelled between delays of more than five minutes” has now been apparently become “before a delay lasting more than 5 mins, bettering the 156,000 km registered in the year ending Q4, 2016”?
So, is it 174,000 or 156,000 km travelled between delays of more than five minutes, in the last year?
As to “The EWL, however, maintained the same level of Mean Kilometre Between Failure (MKBF) – a key measurement of reliability -of 145,000 km for both periods. The CCL improved its MKBF to 282,000km from 228,000km previously” – Who cares how many km travelled between delays?
continue reading here :
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/201...its-mrt-lines/
A train delay is still a train delay which cause thousands of people to be late for work and appointment .