It is inconvenient, but why is the new signalling system necessary?
The old signalling system (pictured right) is almost 30 years old, and the technology has become obsolete.
Once this challenging period of teething issues is overcome, all of us commuters will be able to enjoy the benefits of increased train capacity and reduced waiting times during peak hours.
The new signalling system (featured in photo left) may not look like much, but to improve the rail system, engineers have put in many hours of work to ready the new system.
There are 95 km of tracks, 141 trains and 54 stations to upgrade!
And it is not just the hard work – there are also so many other challenges discovered along the way!
Harsh Realities
Engineers and contractors only have 2-3 hours to test the new system, conduct track maintenance and rail improvement works every night – a lot of work within very limited time!
On top of that, they have to put in extra efforts to ensure that their works do not affect train services the next morning.
Without using revenue hours for trials, it would have taken years to complete the testing and roll-out the new system.
The Complexity of the job
Adding complexity to the job are 4 different generations of trains to retrofit the new signalling system.
You get the never ending challenges now? We just have to press on!
Despite the many challenges, engineers have worked hard to conduct over 1,300 tests during engineering hours before testing during revenue hours began.
Since 28 March 2017, they have conducted 10 sessions of last hour revenue trial and 6 sessions of full Sunday revenue trial.
These trials went well, giving LTA the confidence to begin full day trials to condition the new signaling system to typical peak hour conditions.
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