SBS Finishes Replacement Works on NEL Early so No Early Closure of Stations Needed in May

East side best side?

With your creaky, slow East West Line (EWL) trains and breakdowns, I don’t think so.

This might be coming from a biased writer who has to slog the 1.5 hour journey from the northeast to Bukit Batok Crescent, but I’d like to think that the North East Line (NEL) is superior to many of the train lines.

I mean, we’re gonna have some sexy, new, purple trains coming to our line in 2024!

Apart from all these benefits, northeasties will also be able to enjoy their late-night MRT rides once again.

SBS Finishes Replacement Works on NEL Early so No Early Closure of Stations Needed in May

According to CNA, there will no longer be an early closure for stations between Harbourfront and Dhoby Ghaut on 7 and 8 May as the replacement works for the NEL’s power system has been completed ahead of schedule.

In SBS Transit’s Facebook post, they noted that the NEL was the only line with an Overhead Power System (OCS) and that scaffoldings had to be set up for the engineering team to carry out replacement works.

Why all the works?

You might remember the consecutive train breakdowns (*sigh*) that happened just a month ago, disrupting both the NEL and the North South Line (NSL).

Well, our dearest purple line was affected due to a faulty insulator on its OCS at Buangkok station.

Damn it Buangkok, you let us all down.

SBS Transit then decided to intensify the insulator replacement works on the NEL, leading to the early closures.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said in his Facebook post that the early closures gave the workers much more time to replace the insulators. Without such a measure, the works would have only been completed in September.

“Many thanks to the maintenance crew, who has been working so hard, including during the month of Ramadan,” he added.

New NEL Trains

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on 4 April that the first of the six new trains meant to supplement the existing 43 operating on the NEL had been delivered to Singapore.

These sleek cars, manufactured by the French firm Alstom in Barcelona, Spain, had arrived by sea and were then transported by road to Sengkang Depot, where they would undergo extensive testing before being commissioned.

They are equipped with a range of new features, including a condition monitoring system to quickly spot any potential equipment faults and to allow the operator to preemptively carry out maintenance, if needed.

At least we’ll get stuck in nicer cars if they do decide to break down.

Feature Image: Facebook (Ong Ye Kung)