Track circuit faults unrelated to sleeper replacement works: SMRT
Posted 29 Jan 2017 08:00
Updated 29 Jan 2017 12:38
SINGAPORE: Track circuit faults which caused disruptions on the East-West MRT Line in recent weeks are unrelated to the sleeper replacement project on the North-South and East-West Lines which wrapped up in December, SMRT said in a blog post on Sunday (Jan 29).
“The track circuit system is part of the signalling system, and is not part of the sleeper infrastructure that supports the running rails which trains travel on,” SMRT explained. Track circuits send signals to the operations control centre to monitor speed, location and the identity of trains that are passing through.
When a track circuit fails, trains have to slow down over an affected stretch for safety reasons and this could cause congestion during peak hours. Because MRT trains must maintain a safe distance between one another, they could end up starting and stopping momentarily on the track.
SMRT said there are two reasons why track circuits fail:
- A hardware failure in the Signal Equipment Room within an MRT station
- Trackside circuit faults that engineers could take time to access especially in thunderstorm conditions when the track is above ground
Engineering staff must rule out a case of Signal Equipment Room malfunction before they investigate trackside faults, so it takes a longer time to recover service when equipment along the track fails, SMRT said.
"In the new signalling system that is currently being installed, the ageing track circuits will be replaced with a more advanced system that is more reliable as it is built with multiple redundancy for greater reliability. After we renew the signalling system, faulty track circuits will no longer cause prolonged delays for commuters. This is something we are looking forward to," the public transport operator added.
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