You Can Expect To Ride New BPLRT Trains From Q2 2021, Renewal Will Be Completed By 2024

Singaporeans are known for many things.

Loving to eat is definitely high on the list. Being extremely hardworking is also another that comes to mind.

A joke even amongst ourselves is that we also love to complain. Especially when transport breaks down and things become as shown below.

It really sucks.

However, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) might be giving us some reasons to cheer for public transport soon.

Modernising LRTs

More specifically, a massive win for those who frequent the Bukit Panjang LRT (BPLRT) service.

According to Mothership, two new LRTs will enter the BPLRT revenue service from the second quarter of 2021.

In fact, LTA plans to add even more by 2022. LTA has purchased a total of 19 new LRTs to replace the currents ones.

This has been a long time coming especially seeing that the previous batch of LRTs have been there since 1999.

The upgrades also come with a slew of new features too which you can watch in this video. This includes better a better rail mapping system, doors systems and not to mention the more powerful air conditioner.

Singapore is way too hot, man.

It’ll also be pretty green too, containing both an energy-efficient LED lighting and propulsion system.

Still not enough? It will also use a signalling system with redundancy so that a back-up system will kick in if the main system fails.

Preventing random train breakdowns always pleases the Singaporean in me.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that the BPLRT has shown improvements in its reliability since SMRT intensified their daily maintenance.

Especially in things like its MKBF.

Faster And More Reliable

But what in the world is MKBF?

MKBF, or mean kilometres between failure refers to the distance travelled by a train between encountering service failures that last more than five minutes.

According to Khaw, BPLRTs MKBF has gone up from 33,000 car-km to 60,000 car-km. 

That’s almost a double!

However, he also does state that the BPLRT can be improved to standards such as the Sengkang LRT, which boasts an MKPF of 340,000 car-km.

Khaw stated that he also previously defended the BPLRTs poor performance till 2015 when he decided an overhaul was necessary.

Keep in mind the guy was Senior Minister of State for Transport then.

Must’ve been stressful.

The project was awarded to Bombardier (Singapore), the original supplier, in 2018 and is expected to finish by 2024.

For those who feel that’s long, keep in mind that this is a 20-year old system that is about to be completely changed.

Give it time man.

Bombardier is also going to be engaged for a decade, providing support through spare parts and other services.

This whole situation seems like a huge win, honestly. New LRTs and less breakdowns, what more can we ask for?

But of course, by 2024, maybe aliens have landed on Yishun and given us a technology to teleport. Who knows.