Phase two opening of Thomson-East Coast Line delayed another 6 months
A signalling fault that disrupted train services on the Thomson-East Coast MRT Line (TEL) on Dec 4 has led to a delay in the opening of phase two of the line.
It has been pushed back by another six months till the third quarter of next year for a more thorough review of the rail system software, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday.
Other major rail and road infrastructure projects are also facing delays of up to a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, it added in a statement.
Those affected include the TEL, Cross Island Line, Jurong Region Line, Circle Line Stage 6, and the North-South Corridor expressway network which links the northern parts of the island to the city centre.
A major cause of the delay was the suspension of work during the eight-week circuit breaker period, which ended on June 1.
Other factors cited by LTA include disruptions to the global supply chain for construction materials and a general manpower crunch owing to border closures.
DUE COURSE
LTA said the revised completion and opening timelines for these projects are still being finalised, and it will issue updates in due course.
The signalling problem disrupted train services between Woodlands North and Woodlands South stations for more than five hours in the morning, including peak hours.
Together with Woodlands station, the two stations fall under stage one of the TEL, which has been open since Jan 31.
TEL operator SMRT later said the fault was caused by a software glitch in the signalling system's network component, which had to be reconfigured before the system could be reset.
This latest delay is the second setback for TEL's second phase, which involves six stations from Springleaf to Caldecott.
The first was a three month-delay, with the completion date pushed from the end of this year to the first quarter of next year.
Yesterday, LTA said construction had progressively resumed at all its work sites since June 2.
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