A element designed to protect equipment from power surges failed on Jun 3, causing a power outage that impacted a segment of the North-South Line that lasted more than two hours.
The condition of the surge arrester in the affected power control box may have deteriorated over time, leading to a failure of the affected power control box when lightning struck, according to the Land Transport Authority ( LTA ) in an update released on Saturday ( Jun 15 ).
“LTA is working with the users to examine the wave arrester repair speed.”
Burst coils are designed to shield outdoor equipment from temporary power floods, such as from lightning strikes.
Around 5.50 p.m., according to station operator SMRT, a lightning strike struck a trackside energy control field close to the Kranji MRT station. This disturbed train services , between Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands stations during the night peak- hours commute.
LTA noted in a Facebook post on Saturday that bad weather , and thunder risks prolonged the support recovery.
Before electricity may be restored at 7.50pm, Beamish engineers had to physically access the energy power box on the viaduct to remove it. Teach company resumed at 8.10pm”, it added.
Crossing Cars
Audiences were stranded at the afflicted facilities in photos and videos posted on social media.
During the disturbance, completely normal buses and bridging buses were running between Woodlands and Choa Chu Kang in both directions. However, some travellers criticized the lack of cars.  ,
Providing a timetable of what happened, LTA said , vehicle bridge services were activated at 5.57pm, with the first seven cars arriving at the damaged facilities by 6.27pm.
To assist commuters in finding other rail and bus services, thirty-six buses were deployed overall along with more than 160 more employees.  ,
Crossing buses have a capacity of 80 to 120 passengers while MRT trains can hold up to 1, 200 commuters, said LTA, adding that these buses” may be a complete substitute for disrupted rail service”.
This is why our longer-term strategy is to strengthen the resilience of the road system by creating new lines that are interconnected with existing ones, enabling the majority of commuters to move to an alternate line when a rail line is obstructed, the authority continued.
However, LTA said it has taken notice of the comments from travellers on the areas for improvement.  ,
Among them are examining whether the provision is made for public transportation operators to retain a larger ship of backup buses that could be used as bridging buses in the event of a rail disruption.
The decision “must be thoroughly evaluated because having a larger buffer and more backup buses will cost the public transportation system,” according to LTA.
It came to the conclusion that SMRT responded on Jun 3 in accordance with the company’s standard operating procedures, noting that the travel company “promptly disseminated knowledge” about the disruption  and gave riders advice on alternate transportation choices.
LTA acknowledged, however, that the Jun 3 disturbance was more severe than the previous two significant MRT service disruptions, partly because some of the occurrences had taken place during off-peak hours.  ,
“LTA has taken notice of the comments from travellers on the areas for improvement”, the power said.  ,
” We will put in place the follow-up measures to strengthen our response to upcoming problems with the assistance of our road operators.”