The North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) are the oldest and most heavily utilised rail lines in the MRT network, having served commuters for over three decades now.
To improve and bolster reliability for current and future demands, LTA has embarked on the renewal of six core systems on the NSEWL. This includes replacements of sleepers and third rail in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and the switch to the new signalling system in 2018.
As part of the renewal, LTA has progressively rolled out a new fleet of 66 trains to replace the first-generation trains. These trains will feature a range of technologies for preventive maintenance and detecting faults proactively to increase reliability. An additional batch of 40 new trains were also purchased in 2020 to replace the second and third-generation NSEWL trains. Seven of these trains are in passenger service, while the remaining 19 are undergoing testing and commissioning. The remaining trains will arrive in Singapore and be put progressively into service from now until 2026.
With these efforts, the NSEWL has recorded a Mean Kilometres Between Failure (MKBF) performance of over 1,000,000 train-km since 2019, compared to 70,000 train-km and 60,000 train-km on the NSL and EWL respectively in 2012!
Watch this video to hear from the people behind the systems, on how the improvements will benefit commuters.
