Rail Replacement Services

Rail replacement services are emergency bus services which are provided in the event of MRT breakdown. When a section of the rail network is suspended, these buses would ferry affected commuters between affected stations, hence minimizing the impact of rail disruptions on commuters.

History
Rail replacement services are necessary part of the rail service disruption. Due to the high density of urban rail lines, existing modes of public transport are usually unable to cope with the surge of stranded commuters. As such, rail operators are obliged to arrange for shuttle buses that ferry commuters between affected stations.

If rail replacement bus services are required during the MRT train disruption, the rail operators must comply with the Code of Practice. These include the timeframe for the rail replacement services to be activated and deployed, as well as the headways of the services. LTA monitors the deployment of these services through officers on the ground and from the Land Transport Operations Centre. If the operators fail to deploy the bus bridging services adequately or appropriately, they may be penalised.

However, we should be more realistic about the effectiveness of rail replacement services during the large-scale disruption. They have to make use of withdrawn buses, of which they are able to get rid as fast as possible. We also speed up fault rectifications and train service recovery. For those who have make it even worse, improve reliability as well and reduce frequency of disruptions.

Deployment
In the past, commuters will be well-educated with the proper buses in place. In recent years, buses have been activated at the onset of a disruption and the first buses arrive at affected stations within half an hour after the start of a disruption.

In response to a disruption, free bus services are considered when the train is disrupted, such that commuters can travel without complaints. Likewise if the service between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris is disrupted, commuters can take 31 all the way to Tampines, where there is also extra trips on 31A in the event of MRT breakdown.

These buses can be either using the older (currently kept in Singapore) step-entrance buses, such as MCW Metrobus, Leyland Olympian, Leyland Titan (B15), Volvo Olympian or Dennis Darts. It can also use the low-floor Dennis Trident 2, Volvo B7TL, Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 or any others. They will not take the risk of having New Bus for Singapore (NB4S) buses, as these are BSEP buses.

Route
Rail replacement services always have their fixed route calling at affected stations (Route A, Route B1, Route C1). Every station on the rail network has designated bus stops where commuters can board the shuttle buses and continue their journey. Such information can be found pasted around train stations. Certain bus interchanges near MRT/LRT stations have dedicated boarding berths for emergency shuttle services. Open-top sightseeing buses are also sent in as a last resort.

For more information about rail replacement drop-off points, you can click here.

Regular Bus Services
At the onset of a disruption, regular bus services calling at affected stations are the fastest way for affected commuters to continue their journey. Under a new agreement, all bus services calling at an affected station offers free travel for commuters boarding at that stop, regardless of operator.

Fares: Free travel

Notable occurrences (unplanned)

 * 15th & 17th Dec 2011: A five-hour and seven-hour delay along the North-South Line between Marina Bay and Ang Mo Kio on both days were the worst disruptions to hit SMRT in over 20 years. Despite the large number of buses deployed from Arriva, the large scale disruption was difficult to contain.
 * 15th Mar 2012: The North-East Line between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront was suspended for almost 12 hours after a fault discovered in the early hours was not resolved until 4:35pm in the afternoon. Rail bridging services were running throughout the morning and afternoon to ferry affected commuters.
 * 9th and 10th Mar 2015: The entire Bukit Panjang LRT was disrupted due to a tie-breaker overheating and catching fire at Senja station on 9th Mar evening. Repair works continued throughout the night and was unable to be completed by start of service the next day. Full service eventually was restored that afternoon. Rail bridging services operated from the evening of 9th Mar to the evening of 10th Mar, a few hours after service was restored. SMRT also compensated commuters and residents by allowing free travel on the BPLRT till 12 noon on 11th Mar.

Notable occurrences (planned)

 * 4/5 & 18/19 Sep 2010: Train services were suspended on both Sundays between Jurong East and Clementi (on the East-West Line) and between Jurong East and Bukit Gombak (on the North-South Line) respectively due to track modification works for the Jurong East Modification Project (JEMP). First Western deployed large numbers of shuttle buses on both days, some of them are single deckers and double deckers.
 * 18th Dec 2011: Following the major disruptions of 15th & 17th Dec, the North-South Line, East-West Line and Changi Airport Extension were suspended on Sunday morning as engineers carried out a detailed inspection of the entire train network in what was likely the largest-scale planned shutdown of the train network. Hired Citybus Leyland Olympians that were private hire buses were used for the service.

Occurrences in 2014

 * 11 Jan 2014: Train service between Yew Tee and Woodlands on the North-South Line were disrupted for about two hours, leading to deployment of shuttle buses between affected stations.
 * 22 Jan 2014: Train service between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris on the East-West Line were disrupted for about an hour due to a trackside fault. Shuttle bus deployed between affected stations but train service resumed shorter afterwards.
 * 7 Mar 2014: A short disruption on the full stretch of the Downtown Line led to activation of shuttle buses for around half an hour of downtime.
 * 22 Mar 2014: A short disruption between Dhoby Ghaut and Sengkang on the North-East Line led to activation of shuttle buses, however most buses were withdrawn before starting on shuttle service as the fault was quickly resolved.
 * 6 Apr 2014: 1.5hr Service disruption between Potong Pasir and Dhoby Ghaut along the NEL.
 * 21 Aug 2014: Nine-hour disruption along the North-East Line between Sengkang and Punggol led to shuttle buses being deployed between Buangkok and Punggol.

Occurrences in 2015

 * 18 Feb 2015: A late-night disruption between Chinatown and Potong Pasir on the North-East Line led to activation of a small number of shuttle buses such as MCW Metrobus and some from Ensignbus.
 * 23 Feb 2015: A 3.5hr Service disruption between Yew Tee and Kranji on the North-South Line led  to activation of shuttle buses deployed between Choa Chu Kang and Kranji.
 * 24 Feb 2015: A 1.5hr Service disruption between Choa Chu Kang and Senja on the Bukit Panjang LRT led to activation of shuttle buses.
 * 7 Jul 2015: An evening power fault along the entire North-South and East-West lines resulted in a disruption of about three hours and affecting an estimated 250,000 commuters. As such, only 40/60 of the shuttle buses were pumped in - which has included many of the Rickshaw Sightseeing Buses and the excess of buses that were used - such as Volvo Olympian Batch 1 and Batch 3, that were kept for a while until SG50 National Day de-registration. After 9 August 2015, there are only 5 excess buses.

Occurrences in 2016

 * 9 Jan 2016: Rail replacement services were activated between Sembawang and Kranji due to an hour-long disruption between Admiralty and Kranji. SBS 170A had been diverted from Woodlands Checkpoint, to serve Marsiling MRT, Woodlands MRT, Admiralty MRT and Sembawang MRT. 170A had been the first time going to Sembawang's Sun Plaza.