A signalling fault on Singapore’s Thomson-East Coast Line disrupted service for hours on May 3 after overnight tests by equipment maker Alstom on May 2, SMRT and the Land Transport Authority said. [1, 2]
SMRT said the initial minor delay started around 6:55am, while LTA data put the first disruption at 5:53am between Stevens and Caldecott stations. The fault later escalated into a major delay at 7:18am, with no train service between Caldecott and Orchard stations. [1, 2]
From about 8:14am to 8:48am, there was no train service across the whole TEL between Woodlands North and Bayshore stations. SMRT said its engineers worked with Alstom engineers to restore service and that some trains were held at affected platforms while the system was reset. [1, 2]
Service between Caldecott and Orchard resumed at about 10:48am, but trains were manually driven at reduced speed. Lam Sheau Kai, president of SMRT Trains, said: “Trains between Caldecott and Orchard stations were being driven manually until the end of service.” [2]
SMRT said services resumed progressively after 11:10am, except for the Caldecott-Orchard stretch. The Straits Times reported full normal operations only at 1:15pm. Bridging free bus services were deployed for affected stations during the disruption. [1, 2]
TEL trains normally run automatically, but the affected stretch stayed under manual driving until the end of service, SMRT said. The line had also suffered signalling faults in July and September 2025. [1]
Before the disruption, TEL train punctuality in April 2026 was 99.37%, while trains running to schedule stood at 99.90%. Recent data showed punctuality at 99.22% and trains on schedule at 99.98%, with average train-km between delays falling from 415,000 to 374,000. [2]
