On Friday at 11.20pm, a rail crack delayed commuters on the East-West Line.
It was the second rail crack in two days and the fourth in five weeks.
At a hastily assembled press conference yesterday, rail operator SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said they would be stepping up checks on the network and replacing worn rails.
The Government will also be upping checks on the rail operator's maintenance work; LTA says instead of monthly checks, it will do fortnightly audits.
LTA's deputy chief executive, Mr Chua Chong Kheng, said that the more frequent audits would "ensure that checks are done thoroughly and rigorously".
Right now, while they cannot pinpoint whether there is a systemic problem underlying these faults, the audits will focus on the track curves as all four cracks had occurred along such stretches.
The four incidents - on April 29, May 18, May 30, and May 31 - individually caused delays of up to 40 minutes.
They have became a cause for concern because they happened in such quick succession.
Rail cracks were rare in Singapore before this series of incidents.
Ultrasound checks will now be conducted on a further 246 rail joints.
Some 40km of rails will also be replaced - about 10 per cent of the total 400km on the North-South and East-West lines.
SMRT says it hopes to accomplish this in two years' time.
It replaced 8km of rail last year.
Rails will also be replaced once they have been worn down by 12mm, instead of 14mm.
Further, LTA will be appointing an international trackwork specialist to assess the condition of rails and to advise on possible changes to SMRT's maintenance regime.
Both parties emphasised that commuter safety was top prority.
Though SMRT senior vice-president for engineering and maintenance, Mr Lee Ling Wee, said they could not preclude more rail cracks from happening since the cracks were symptomatic of an ageing network, he said that SMRT had a system to detect, and attend to, any cracks quickly and precisely.
Trains will also be halted if there are track faults, ensuring passenger safety.
In the long term, SMRT is also looking to expand its workshop facilities so it can pre-fabricate longer rails for installation.
SMRT currently has 18m of spatial capacity to facilitate the change of rails, said Mr Lee.
Commuters TNPS spoke to last night generally welcomed the news of increased checks saying they appreciated that the authorities were taking steps to ensure safety.
But one commuter, Mr Jason Khoo, 36, a tutor, expressed frustration at more frequent delays in the network in recent months.
"I hope the authorities can do more to ensure that trains come regularly and there are no delays, especially since we have been encouraged to take public transport," he said.
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