EWL train disruption: LTA starts probe, will appoint advisory panel to review findings

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has begun investigations into a major six-day disruption to train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista MRT stations on the East-West Line (EWL).

- Esther Loi

The probe will cover areas such as the root cause of a component falling off a train's undercarriage that triggered the severe disruption from Sept 25 to 30, as well as fault detection procedures and service recovery efforts.

The investigations are expected to be completed in a few months, and the findings will be made public, the authority said on Oct 2.

LTA said it will also appoint an expert advisory panel to review the findings and give technical advice. First, the regulator will look into the root cause of why an axle box - a component on a train's undercarriage - fell off the faulty train, by doing a forensic study into the nature of the axle box failure and identifying other contributing factors that could have led to the incident.

Second, it will examine the fault detection and incident handling procedures to find out if appropriate actions were taken. It will do so by reviewing current procedures, and it will propose measures to improve the detection of such faults, minimise disruptions to services and prevent damage to rail infrastructure.