East-West Line disruption: No train services from Jurong East to Buona Vista on Sep 30, new cracks found along tracks

SINGAPORE: Commuters will face further disruptions on the East-West Line as train services at the affected stations between Jurong East and Buona Vista will not resume on Monday (Sep 30) as hoped.
Authorities had previously said they were working towards full restoration on Monday, but the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operator SMRT have now moved the target date back by a day to Tuesday. 
In a statement on Sunday, LTA and SMRT said that during stress testing of the tracks over the weekend, 12 new cracks that were previously not visible appeared on unreplaced rail segments along the section of westbound tracks from Clementi to Ulu Pandan Depot. 
“These cracks were due to the rail segments being weakened by the damaged train when it was travelling back to the depot on Wednesday morning,” said LTA and SMRT. 
Thus, LTA and SMRT engineers will require additional time to replace 10 rail segments on Sunday, and after the rail replacement, more stress testing will be conducted on Monday to ensure safety and rail integrity before resuming full passenger service.
Said Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat: “Weather permitting, we expect the rail replacements to be completed tonight, followed by further testing to continue for most of tomorrow. 
“To ensure the safety of commuters, SMRT has to push back the resumption of train services from Monday to Tuesday, subject to weather conditions and after thorough testing have been successfully completed.”
LTA and SMRT said rigorous checks and tests will be carried out and they will ensure strict safety requirements are met before resuming full passenger service. 
“We seek commuters’ kind understanding and patience while our workers do their best to safely resume service as soon as we can,” said LTA and SMRT. 
President of SMRT Trains Lam Sheau Kai thanked commuters for their patience amid the works.
He said: “During yesterday’s testing phase, we found 12 new cracks, along an affected stretch. We will need more time to fix these new cracks.”
“After which, rigorous testing will have to take place before trains can be safely put back to service.”
The 12 new cracks were found along an 800m stretch after Clementi station towards Ulu Pandan Depot. In total, the 46 cracks found to date span a 2.55km stretch between Dover station and stretching beyond Clementi station.
Commuters are advised to continue using the free regular bus services available between Boon Lay and Queenstown stations and free bridging bus services between Jurong East and Buona Vista, said SMRT and LTA. 
SMRT will also continue to operate shuttle train services between Buona Vista and Queenstown stations and between Jurong East and Boon Lay stations in both directions. 
The disruptions began on Wednesday morning as a faulty train was returning to Ulu Pandan depot.
A defective component known as an axle box dropped onto the tracks, causing a bogie – or an undercarriage with wheels – to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi stations.
This resulted in extensive damage to the tracks and other equipment.
Engineers found 34 rail breaks across 1.6km of tracks, damage to power cables, the third rail that supplies power and three track point machines – used to divert trains to different tracks.
The damage disrupted train services between nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown.
Shuttle trains operating at 10-minute intervals were later put in place between Boon Lay and Jurong East, and between Buona Vista and Queenstown.
However, no trains were running between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations.
Authorities had initially hoped to restore partial service on the Jurong East-Buona Vista stretch with a single-line shuttle service. But the plan was shelved to prioritise the resumption of full services earlier.
The authorities then said on Thursday SMRT would aim to restore full service on Monday.
On Saturday, SMRT said that it had successfully recovered and completed functionality tests on three track point machines and associated trackside equipment. 
It added that once the repairs were finalised, it would spend the whole of Sunday conducting comprehensive system functional and safety tests, including checks on the tracks, power supply and train signalling, as well as run trains at different speeds to ensure smooth operations.