In a bid to fast-track re-signaling works and improve the reliability on two of SMRT’s main train lines, 17 MRT stations on the East-West Line (EWL) and two MRT stations on the North-South Line (NSL) will be fully closed for two Sundays in December.
On Dec 10 and Dec 17, there’ll be service closures all the way from Tiong Bahru to Tuas Link stations on the EWL, as well as Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak stations on the NSL. These particular stretches will also be closing earlier on Fridays and Saturdays and opening later on Saturdays and Sundays from Dec 8 until the end of the year.
“This arrangement will more than double LTA and SMRT’s engineering and track access time from 3 hours to 7.5 hours each night,” wrote SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in a joint statement.
“With extended engineering hours from December 2017 onwards, the completion of re-signaling works on the EWL will be significantly accelerated from end-2018 to June 2018.”
Speaking of 2018, there’ll also be reduced train service hours along other stretches on both train lines in the first half of next year — all done to facilitate re-signaling, as well as other renewal and maintenance work. LTA and SMRT assured commuters that there’ll be parallel shuttle buses available along the affected MRT stations during affected hours, with bus fares following the rail fare structures.
“This will substantially accelerate the implementation of the new signaling system for the EWL and provide additional maintenance hours for the entire NSEWL network,” said LTA’s chief executive Ngien Hoon Ping.
“We seek the patience and understanding of commuters,” he said, affirming that commuters will be able to enjoy shorter headways and increased capacity along both lines once re-signaling works are done.
This decision comes after a series of unfortunate events faced by SMRT last week, including service disruptions on three different lines in the same day and a train collision that left 36 people injured.
