North East MRT Line
Encyclopedia
The North East MRT Line (NEL) is the third Mass Rapid Transit
line in Singapore
and the world's second longest fully underground, automated and driverless
, rapid transit
line after Singapore's Circle MRT Line
. The line is 20
km long with 16 stations and operated by SBS Transit
. Travelling from one end of this line to the other end takes 32 minutes. This line is coloured purple in the rail map.
is provided at Dhoby Ghaut station
, East West Line
at Outram Park station
and Circle Line
at Serangoon
, Dhoby Ghaut
and HarbourFront
stations. The future Downtown Line will interchange with the North East Line at Chinatown and Little India stations. This line is the first in Singapore to be entirely underground.
The North East Line is the first line in Singapore to have artwork integrated into all its 16 stations under the Art in Transit programme. Other than the Art in Transit programme, the interior architecture for the stations are typical of the design of the early 2000s with lots of white, glass and steel.This kind of design can be seen in other subway stations built during this period like the Shenzhen Metro
and Hong Kong MTR
's Tseung Kwan O line.
Presently, trains operate at two-minute frequencies during peak hours, five-minute frequencies during mid-day service and six-minute frequencies in the early morning and night times.
received approval for the construction of the North East Line on 16 January 1996. French company Alstom
was chosen as the main contractor and manager of the project. The operating license was given to new rail operator SBS Transit
in order to foster competition with SMRT Corporation
.
In the initial stages of planning, Outram Park Station was initially planned to be the southern terminus of the North East Line. However, in 1993, the Land Transport Authority
decided to extend the line southwards to HarbourFront MRT Station
, after noting that many people liked to go to the World Trade Centre (the present day HarbourFront Centre
).
The line was scheduled for completion in 2002, but due to various problems in the automation, the opening was repeatedly delayed. It was finally opened on 20 June 2003, with higher fares than existing lines supposedly to compensate for the heavy construction costs (S$4.6 billion).
At the time that the line was opened, all of the stations were operating except Buangkok
and Woodleigh
. SBS Transit announced that these would open only when there was a critical mass of passengers in those areas. With respect to Buangkok, which had already been fully built, the company claimed that the projected number of passengers was too low to cover operating costs. Constant public pressure, notably the "White Elephant" incident and subsequent media attention, forced it to review the situation and the station duly opened on 15 January 2006. As expected, Buangkok station's first-week ridership was the lowest on the NEL and does not cover operating costs. The last station on the line, Woodleigh
, opened on 20 June 2011 in anticipation of a American International School which is under construction in the vicinity of the station that is slated to open in 2012.
The North-East Line's numbering scheme reserves station code "NE2" between HarbourFront
(NE1) and Outram Park
(NE3). As of 2009, the LTA has not announced any details of any future station here.
The rolling stock consists of Alstom Metropolis C751A trains
, running in six-car formation. These trains operate from Sengkang Depot
near Buangkok Station on the North East Line. The Sengkang Depot has maintenance and train overhaul facilities for trains along the North East Line. In 2010, the government announced that they would be looking to increase the number of trains on the North East Line by 50% within 5 to 6 years to cater to an expected increase in passenger traffic.
A software flaw on one of the first days of operation paralysed the trains for several hours. Another problem of trains stalling at stations repeatedly was traced to commuters accidentally pressing the Emergency Communication Button whenever they leaned on the train wall and rectified by placing plastic shields over the buttons.
The North East Line has also been criticised for charging higher fares than the rest of the system. Despite that, it had been operating at a loss until late 2006. After half a year of operation, ridership remained below expectations at an average of 170,000 passengers per day, short of the 250,000 per day needed to break even. At that time, SBS Transit estimated its losses for 2003 at S$40 million and was even rumoured to be considering selling the line to competitor SMRT Corporation, although both operators dismissed such speculation. However, the ridership has been slowly increasing and broke the break-even mark of 250,000 in late 2006. The North East Line operations has been turning in profits since.
were evacuated after it stalled in the tunnel due to a loss of traction power around 12:45 p.m. The breakdown occurred when the overhead power lines
in the tunnel were dislodged and disconnected after a faulty insulator supporting them gave way. Electricity was cut off from the train. It was reported that commuters in the tunnel saw sparks and heard a loud bang before the train halted. Passengers had to walk a distance of about 200m back to Outram Park Station as a result. 100,000 commuters were affected by the disruption for seven hours that day, with shuttle buses plying the affected sections of the line. An investigation was carried out during the period of ten months after the incident. The Land Transport Authority
announced that operator SBS Transit
will not be fined or penalised for the disruption, adding the fault was due to a faulty part and not negligence. Investigations pointed to the quality of the ceramic insulators made by Ceralep Sn. The LTA said Ceralep had examined all 251 insulators in stock and are free of defects. The LTA said the dislodged wires did not pose a danger to the passengers on the train, since a circuit breaker
would have been tripped by the incident. In September 2006, another electrical fault disrupted train services for an hour. SBS Transit said the breakdown was due to a faulty electrical relay
, a type of switch
. The defective relay led to a replacement of about 200 relays made by Relais Electroniques Deutsch, a French corporation.
The latest disruption on the North East Line occurred on 21 April 2010. This appeared to be due to a door problem in Sengkang
station. Passengers were advised that 'Trains were delayed until further notice' and to utilize alternate means of transport. Though train services resumed after 9:45, commuters complained it is still slow.
Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
The Mass Rapid Transit or MRT is a rapid transit system that forms the backbone of the railway system in Singapore, spanning the entire city-state. The initial section of the MRT, between Yio Chu Kang Station and Toa Payoh Station, opened in 1987 establishing itself as the second-oldest metro...
line in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and the world's second longest fully underground, automated and driverless
Automatic train operation
Automatic train operation ensures partial or complete automatic train piloting and driverless functions.Most systems elect to maintain a driver to mitigate risks associated with failures or emergencies....
, rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
line after Singapore's Circle MRT Line
Circle MRT Line
The Circle Line is Singapore's fourth Mass Rapid Transit line, operated by SMRT Corporation. This underground line is currently long with 28 stations and is fully automatically operated...
. The line is 20
1 E4 m
To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 and 100 kilometres . The myriametre is a deprecated unit name; the prefix myria- is obsolete, not included among the prefixes when the International System of Units was introduced in 1960.Distances shorter than 10...
km long with 16 stations and operated by SBS Transit
SBS Transit
SBS Transit Limited is a public transport operator in Singapore. Its major competitor in Singapore's duopoly transport system is SMRT Corporation, which also operates bus, rail, taxi and other transport services....
. Travelling from one end of this line to the other end takes 32 minutes. This line is coloured purple in the rail map.
Overview
As the name implies, the line connects central Singapore to the north-eastern part of the island. Transfer to the North South LineNorth South MRT Line
The North South Line was the 1st Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 44 km long with 25 stations, and is operated by SMRT Corporation...
is provided at Dhoby Ghaut station
Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station
Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station ' is a Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore, located at the eastern end of Orchard Road. Originally it was only a station on the North South Line but after the opening of the North East Line on 20 June 2003, it became the interchange station for these two lines...
, East West Line
East West MRT Line
The East West Line was the 2nd Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 49.2 km long with 35 stations , making it the longest MRT line in Singapore. It takes about 63 minutes to travel from one end to the other...
at Outram Park station
Outram Park MRT Station
Outram Park MRT Station ' is an interchange station of the North East Line and the East West Line in Singapore. It is located in the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. Before Tiong Bahru MRT Station was refurbished in 2006, it was the last MRT Station that had Chinese characters...
and Circle Line
Circle MRT Line
The Circle Line is Singapore's fourth Mass Rapid Transit line, operated by SMRT Corporation. This underground line is currently long with 28 stations and is fully automatically operated...
at Serangoon
Serangoon MRT Station
Serangoon MRT Station ' is an underground interchange station on the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. The station is located in the Serangoon Central area, at the intersection of Upper Serangoon Road and Serangoon Central...
, Dhoby Ghaut
Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station
Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station ' is a Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore, located at the eastern end of Orchard Road. Originally it was only a station on the North South Line but after the opening of the North East Line on 20 June 2003, it became the interchange station for these two lines...
and HarbourFront
HarbourFront MRT Station
HarbourFront MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit interchange of the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. It is located in the south of Singapore next to the HarbourFront Centre, previously known as the Singapore World Trade Centre. It serves as a terminal station of the...
stations. The future Downtown Line will interchange with the North East Line at Chinatown and Little India stations. This line is the first in Singapore to be entirely underground.
The North East Line is the first line in Singapore to have artwork integrated into all its 16 stations under the Art in Transit programme. Other than the Art in Transit programme, the interior architecture for the stations are typical of the design of the early 2000s with lots of white, glass and steel.This kind of design can be seen in other subway stations built during this period like the Shenzhen Metro
Shenzhen Metro
The Shenzhen Metro is the subway or underground system for the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, China. The system opened on 28 December 2004, making Shenzhen the seventh city in mainland China to have a subway after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, and Wuhan. The Shenzhen...
and Hong Kong MTR
MTR
Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...
's Tseung Kwan O line.
Presently, trains operate at two-minute frequencies during peak hours, five-minute frequencies during mid-day service and six-minute frequencies in the early morning and night times.
History
The Land Transport AuthorityLand Transport Authority
The Land Transport Authority is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Singapore Government.-History:...
received approval for the construction of the North East Line on 16 January 1996. French company Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
was chosen as the main contractor and manager of the project. The operating license was given to new rail operator SBS Transit
SBS Transit
SBS Transit Limited is a public transport operator in Singapore. Its major competitor in Singapore's duopoly transport system is SMRT Corporation, which also operates bus, rail, taxi and other transport services....
in order to foster competition with SMRT Corporation
SMRT Corporation
SMRT Corporation is a public transport operator incorporated on March 6, 2000, as a result of an industry overhaul to form multi-modal public-transport operators in Singapore. It is the second-largest public-transport company in Singapore after ComfortDelGro...
.
In the initial stages of planning, Outram Park Station was initially planned to be the southern terminus of the North East Line. However, in 1993, the Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority
The Land Transport Authority is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Singapore Government.-History:...
decided to extend the line southwards to HarbourFront MRT Station
HarbourFront MRT Station
HarbourFront MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit interchange of the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. It is located in the south of Singapore next to the HarbourFront Centre, previously known as the Singapore World Trade Centre. It serves as a terminal station of the...
, after noting that many people liked to go to the World Trade Centre (the present day HarbourFront Centre
Harbourfront Centre
Harbourfront Centre is a key cultural organization on Toronto, Ontario's waterfront, situated at 235 Queen's Quay West. Established as a crown corporation in 1972 by the federal government to create a waterfront park, it became a non-profit organization in 1991. Funding comes from corporate...
).
The line was scheduled for completion in 2002, but due to various problems in the automation, the opening was repeatedly delayed. It was finally opened on 20 June 2003, with higher fares than existing lines supposedly to compensate for the heavy construction costs (S$4.6 billion).
At the time that the line was opened, all of the stations were operating except Buangkok
Buangkok MRT Station
Buangkok MRT Station is an underground station located on the North East Line of the Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore. The station is in Sengkang and near to Hougang and serves residents in the vicinity....
and Woodleigh
Woodleigh MRT Station
Woodleigh MRT Station ' is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station of the North East Line, located on part of the former Bidadari Cemetery. When the North-East Line opened, it was one of the fully completed MRT stations in the entire system that was non-operational. The Art In Transit artwork in...
. SBS Transit announced that these would open only when there was a critical mass of passengers in those areas. With respect to Buangkok, which had already been fully built, the company claimed that the projected number of passengers was too low to cover operating costs. Constant public pressure, notably the "White Elephant" incident and subsequent media attention, forced it to review the situation and the station duly opened on 15 January 2006. As expected, Buangkok station's first-week ridership was the lowest on the NEL and does not cover operating costs. The last station on the line, Woodleigh
Woodleigh MRT Station
Woodleigh MRT Station ' is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station of the North East Line, located on part of the former Bidadari Cemetery. When the North-East Line opened, it was one of the fully completed MRT stations in the entire system that was non-operational. The Art In Transit artwork in...
, opened on 20 June 2011 in anticipation of a American International School which is under construction in the vicinity of the station that is slated to open in 2012.
The North-East Line's numbering scheme reserves station code "NE2" between HarbourFront
HarbourFront MRT Station
HarbourFront MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit interchange of the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. It is located in the south of Singapore next to the HarbourFront Centre, previously known as the Singapore World Trade Centre. It serves as a terminal station of the...
(NE1) and Outram Park
Outram Park MRT Station
Outram Park MRT Station ' is an interchange station of the North East Line and the East West Line in Singapore. It is located in the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. Before Tiong Bahru MRT Station was refurbished in 2006, it was the last MRT Station that had Chinese characters...
(NE3). As of 2009, the LTA has not announced any details of any future station here.
Stations
| Station Number | Station Name | Interchange |
| NE1 / CC29 | HarbourFront HarbourFront MRT Station HarbourFront MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit interchange of the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. It is located in the south of Singapore next to the HarbourFront Centre, previously known as the Singapore World Trade Centre. It serves as a terminal station of the... |
Circle Line Circle MRT Line The Circle Line is Singapore's fourth Mass Rapid Transit line, operated by SMRT Corporation. This underground line is currently long with 28 stations and is fully automatically operated... |
| NE3 / EW16 | Outram Park Outram Park MRT Station Outram Park MRT Station ' is an interchange station of the North East Line and the East West Line in Singapore. It is located in the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. Before Tiong Bahru MRT Station was refurbished in 2006, it was the last MRT Station that had Chinese characters... |
East West Line East West MRT Line The East West Line was the 2nd Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 49.2 km long with 35 stations , making it the longest MRT line in Singapore. It takes about 63 minutes to travel from one end to the other... |
| NE4 / DT19 | Chinatown Chinatown MRT Station Chinatown MRT Station ' is a Mass Rapid Transit station on the North East Line and upcoming Downtown Line in Singapore. On the North East Line, it lies between the Outram Park and Clarke Quay MRT stations and between Telok Ayer and River Valley on the Downtown Line. It is directly below and serves... |
Downtown Line Downtown MRT Line The Downtown Line will be the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. When completed, the line will be about 42-km long with 34 stations and serve about half a million commuters daily, making it the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore. Travelling from one end to the other... (U/C) |
| NE5 | Clarke Quay Clarke Quay MRT Station Clarke Quay MRT Station ' is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the North East Line in Singapore. It is located next to Swissôtel Merchant Court at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and Merchant Road... |
|
| NE6 / NS24 / CC1 | Dhoby Ghaut Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station ' is a Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore, located at the eastern end of Orchard Road. Originally it was only a station on the North South Line but after the opening of the North East Line on 20 June 2003, it became the interchange station for these two lines... |
North South Line North South MRT Line The North South Line was the 1st Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 44 km long with 25 stations, and is operated by SMRT Corporation... , Circle Line Circle MRT Line The Circle Line is Singapore's fourth Mass Rapid Transit line, operated by SMRT Corporation. This underground line is currently long with 28 stations and is fully automatically operated... |
| NE7 / DT12 | Little India Little India MRT Station Little India MRT Station ' is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the North East Line in Singapore and as the name implies, serves the ethnic neighbourhood of Little India... |
Downtown Line Downtown MRT Line The Downtown Line will be the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. When completed, the line will be about 42-km long with 34 stations and serve about half a million commuters daily, making it the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore. Travelling from one end to the other... (U/C) |
| NE8 | Farrer Park Farrer Park MRT Station Farrer Park MRT Station ' is a station located along the North East Line on the Mass Rapid Transit. The station is between Little India and Boon Keng in Singapore, and managed by SBS Transit. Similar to other stations on the line, it is an underground station... |
|
| NE9 | Boon Keng Boon Keng MRT Station Boon Keng MRT Station is located on the North East Line on the Mass Rapid Transit system in Singapore. The station is fully underground and is run by SBS Transit. It is located at Boon Keng Road and Serangoon Road, and near the Whampoa River... |
|
| NE10 | Potong Pasir Potong Pasir MRT Station Potong Pasir MRT Station ' is located on the North East Line, Singapore. The station is located in the Potong Pasir area and on the southern end of Upper Serangoon Road and Potong Pasir Avenue 1... |
|
| NE11 | Woodleigh Woodleigh MRT Station Woodleigh MRT Station ' is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station of the North East Line, located on part of the former Bidadari Cemetery. When the North-East Line opened, it was one of the fully completed MRT stations in the entire system that was non-operational. The Art In Transit artwork in... |
|
| NE12 / CC13 | Serangoon Serangoon MRT Station Serangoon MRT Station ' is an underground interchange station on the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. The station is located in the Serangoon Central area, at the intersection of Upper Serangoon Road and Serangoon Central... |
Circle Line Circle MRT Line The Circle Line is Singapore's fourth Mass Rapid Transit line, operated by SMRT Corporation. This underground line is currently long with 28 stations and is fully automatically operated... |
| NE13 | Kovan Kovan MRT Station Kovan MRT Station ' is an underground station on the North East Line of the Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore. The station is located in the southern part of Hougang New Town with a neighbourhood mall known as Heartland Mall, the former Hougang South Bus Interchange in its vicinity... |
|
| NE14 | Hougang Hougang MRT Station Hougang MRT Station ' is an underground station on the North East MRT Line, Singapore. It is located in the central part of Hougang New Town which is connected to the bus interchange and surrounding HDB flats and shopping centres.... |
|
| NE15 | Buangkok Buangkok MRT Station Buangkok MRT Station is an underground station located on the North East Line of the Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore. The station is in Sengkang and near to Hougang and serves residents in the vicinity.... |
|
| NE16 / STC | Sengkang Sengkang MRT/LRT Station The Sengkang MRT/LRT Station ' is an interchange station in Singapore that serves Sengkang New Town. It is part of the North East Line of the Mass Rapid Transit and the Sengkang LRT Line of the Light Rail Transit.... |
Sengkang LRT Sengkang LRT Line The Sengkang LRT Line is a 10.7 km light rail line which partly opened on 18 January 2003. It is the second LRT system in Singapore and is fully automated and currently operated by SBS Transit. The line uses the Crystal Mover rolling stock supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries... |
| NE17 / PTC | Punggol Punggol MRT/LRT Station Punggol MRT/LRT Station ' is a MRT and LRT interchange station of the North East Line and the Punggol LRT Line in Singapore.The artwork in this station is Water, Landscape and Future by Goh Beng Kwan.-History:... |
Punggol LRT Punggol LRT Line The Punggol LRT Line is the third line of the LRT system in Singapore. Its first phase comprises a 10.3km line with 15 stations. Similar to the Sengkang LRT Line, its rolling stock and line operator are the Crystal Movers and SBS Transit respectively.... |
Rolling stock
The rolling stock consists of Alstom Metropolis C751A trains
Alstom Metropolis C751A
The Alstom Metropolis C751A are the first generation of communication-based train control rolling stock that has been in use in Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit lines since 2003...
, running in six-car formation. These trains operate from Sengkang Depot
Sengkang Depot
Sengkang Depot is a depot in Sengkang, Singapore, for the Mass Rapid Transit and Light Rail Transit lines operated by SBS Transit...
near Buangkok Station on the North East Line. The Sengkang Depot has maintenance and train overhaul facilities for trains along the North East Line. In 2010, the government announced that they would be looking to increase the number of trains on the North East Line by 50% within 5 to 6 years to cater to an expected increase in passenger traffic.
Issues
Despite some initial glitches when the driverless line first opened, it has operated more or less reliably, as compared to the Bukit Panjang driverless LRT run by competitor SMRT Corporation, which was fraught with repeated hiccups.A software flaw on one of the first days of operation paralysed the trains for several hours. Another problem of trains stalling at stations repeatedly was traced to commuters accidentally pressing the Emergency Communication Button whenever they leaned on the train wall and rectified by placing plastic shields over the buttons.
The North East Line has also been criticised for charging higher fares than the rest of the system. Despite that, it had been operating at a loss until late 2006. After half a year of operation, ridership remained below expectations at an average of 170,000 passengers per day, short of the 250,000 per day needed to break even. At that time, SBS Transit estimated its losses for 2003 at S$40 million and was even rumoured to be considering selling the line to competitor SMRT Corporation, although both operators dismissed such speculation. However, the ridership has been slowly increasing and broke the break-even mark of 250,000 in late 2006. The North East Line operations has been turning in profits since.
Disruptions
On 24 July 2006, passengers on board a NEL train headed for HarbourFrontHarbourFront MRT Station
HarbourFront MRT Station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit interchange of the North East Line and the Circle Line in Singapore. It is located in the south of Singapore next to the HarbourFront Centre, previously known as the Singapore World Trade Centre. It serves as a terminal station of the...
were evacuated after it stalled in the tunnel due to a loss of traction power around 12:45 p.m. The breakdown occurred when the overhead power lines
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
in the tunnel were dislodged and disconnected after a faulty insulator supporting them gave way. Electricity was cut off from the train. It was reported that commuters in the tunnel saw sparks and heard a loud bang before the train halted. Passengers had to walk a distance of about 200m back to Outram Park Station as a result. 100,000 commuters were affected by the disruption for seven hours that day, with shuttle buses plying the affected sections of the line. An investigation was carried out during the period of ten months after the incident. The Land Transport Authority
Land Transport Authority
The Land Transport Authority is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Singapore Government.-History:...
announced that operator SBS Transit
SBS Transit
SBS Transit Limited is a public transport operator in Singapore. Its major competitor in Singapore's duopoly transport system is SMRT Corporation, which also operates bus, rail, taxi and other transport services....
will not be fined or penalised for the disruption, adding the fault was due to a faulty part and not negligence. Investigations pointed to the quality of the ceramic insulators made by Ceralep Sn. The LTA said Ceralep had examined all 251 insulators in stock and are free of defects. The LTA said the dislodged wires did not pose a danger to the passengers on the train, since a circuit breaker
Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow...
would have been tripped by the incident. In September 2006, another electrical fault disrupted train services for an hour. SBS Transit said the breakdown was due to a faulty electrical relay
Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal , or where several circuits must be controlled...
, a type of switch
Switch
In electronics, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another....
. The defective relay led to a replacement of about 200 relays made by Relais Electroniques Deutsch, a French corporation.
The latest disruption on the North East Line occurred on 21 April 2010. This appeared to be due to a door problem in Sengkang
Sengkang
Sengkang is a sub-urban town in the north-eastern part of Singapore. The Sengkang Planning Area, an urban planning zone under the Urban Redevelopment Authority, covers the Housing and Development Board satellite new town of Sengkang New Town and rural Jalan Kayu.-Etymology and history:Meaning...
station. Passengers were advised that 'Trains were delayed until further notice' and to utilize alternate means of transport. Though train services resumed after 9:45, commuters complained it is still slow.