All trains on the North-South Line will stop on the tracks for about 10 minutes at around 11:00pm on Tuesday night (28th March), so a new signalling system can be tested. This is to facilitate the cut-over to the new system, which will be tested for the first time during passenger service hours. About 30 trains will be in service during this period.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT said that in-train announcements will be made to inform commuters of the temporary suspension in operations. Once the new signalling mode takes over, train services will resume, they added. The LTA said it will evaluate the success of Tuesday night's trial, which will run for the last hour of revenue service, before deciding on further testing dates.
Mr. Tan Yih Long, the LTA's Re-signalling Project Director, said, "The results will help the LTA decide when to extend trials to longer service hours, and eventually the full switchover of the new signalling system." The upgraded signalling system is one of the key projects to renew the ageing 30-year old North-South Line. It will allow trains to run at shorter intervals of up to 100 seconds, instead of 120 seconds during peak hours.
