The Siemens C651 was the second generation of rolling stock that operated on the North South Line and East West Line of the Mass Rapid Transit system in Singapore. A total of 114 cars were purchased in 1992 and were in service from 1994 to 2024. This was the only fleet retaining the white exterior bodies (just like the C151 trains before refurbishment) that are used on the North South Line and the East West Line.
Design[]
The trains have a full white body and thick red stripe in the middle. Similar to the C151 trains, the C651 trains have no visual passenger information systems until the STARIS was installed and activated around 2010.
Unlike the 66 first-generation C151 trainsets, the C651s are delivered with a scratch-resistant acrylic finish. This alleviated the difficulty in removing dirt trapped on the exterior surface, as opposed to the aluminium skin of the C151 trains that was delivered unpainted. The run number at the front of the train was delivered by a low-power consumption electronic flip-dot display, as opposed to the manual plastic rollers of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 trains, while the rubber strips between the doors are thicker. These train cars are fitted with green-blue tinted Glastroch (Germany) windows glass, and are almost identical to the first generation train cars before its refurbishment, except that its traction produces a louder, lower-pitched noise when accelerating/braking.
The C651 trains were originally delivered with a GTO-VVVF propulsion drive by Siemens. Other original features include specifically designed air-conditioning vents that eliminate dripping from the cooling system to the train compartments, as well as the event recorder, which records important train functions, such as braking and emergency train operations to assist troubleshooting in the event of fault.
Operational details[]
The design and supply of the C651 trains were tendered on December 1992 to complement the existing C151 trains due to the opening of the Woodlands extension at a cost of $259 million. These trains began revenue service in 1995 as the first train-set rolled out of Singapore plant to increase capacity on 17 July 1994 and delivered to SMRT on 20 September 1994.
Experimental programmes[]
Many experimental programmes have been run on the C651 cars, including the past program.
For the past program, the third and fourth cars, coloured in green were even more radical in the reconfiguration, with all but eight parts of seats, four at each ends of the car removed completely. In its place was standing room with upholstered cushion, in an attempt to provide a degree of comfort to passengers standing in that space. This design proved to be unpopular with the commuters, and it was eventually dropped. The original seats between the 1st and 2nd door, and the 3rd and 4th door on these cars have been replaced. The remaining upholstered seats were reverted to original seats in May 2006. All C151 trains had their seats on the middle part of carriage removed.
For now, some trains of this type were reconfigured to have more standing space in the late 1990s as part of an experimental programme. In particular, the second and fifth cars (the blue cars) were reconfigured to have more standing room on both sides, as 3 seats from some later cars.
More grabpoles were also added. Regular grabpoles in the centre of each car were replaced by grabpoles that branch out into three in the centre first in 2007, followed by triplicated hand grips and grab poles in 2014. Special non slip floorings were also tested.
Refurbishment[]
Refurbishment contract for these trains have been awarded to Singapore Rail Engineering (SRE), which were asked in May 2013 but decided to refurbish in November 2013, and was repeated many times over the years. When completed, these upgrades will address train components such as doors and brakes that have been the primary cause of delays owing to train faults. The changes will include re-signalling, refurbishing the propulsion system, air-conditioning system, auxiliary power system, interior saloon with modifying handrails and exterior of the trains. Upgraded trains will also have sensors that carries vital information on the train’s state of health for improved operation and maintenance of the train set.
Refurbishment works has begun since early 2016, beginning with train set 217/218. The first refurbished train set is expected to undergo dynamic tests and commence revenue service in early 2017. It will also include STARIS version 2.0, of which it will consist of the dynamic route map displays. As of late August 2016, 2 phototype train cars have been built by SRE for evaluation, signalling that this MLR project is unaffected by the hold on the End-of Life Refurbishments for the 66 C151 train sets. With the new signalling system for the NSEWL, refurbishment works were terminated for the C651. This is due to the move to the New Rail Financing Framework (NRFF), and the shift in focus for SRE towards strengthening its subway operation and maintenance engineering capabilities.
Operational incidents[]
- On 15 December 1997, a train door of the Siemens C651 train car was partially dislodged during revenue service as it pulled into City Hall MRT Station. The train was returned to the operator at about 3.30pm after modification works by the manufacturer Siemens Transportation Systems (Germany), and was deployed immediately into revenue service. This was done with the faulty door, the lower part was out of the groove, getting past unnoticed. The incident disrupted services between Newton and Marina Bay stations for about 15 minutes according to the press release. Siemens Advanced Engineering, the subsidiary of Siemens Transportation Systems Group which oversaw the modification works, were held responsible for the incident.
Safety systems[]
Siemens C651 trains are equipped with Automatic Train Control (ATC), supplemented with Automatic train operation (ATO). At a fallback level, Automatic Train Protection (ATP) is available.
Serial number[]
The car numbers of the trains range from x201 to x238, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a 4 digit serial number by the rail operator SMRT Trains.
- The first digit depends upon whether the car is the first, second or third car from the end of the train it is nearer to, where the first car has a 3, the second has a 1 & the third has a 2.
- The other 3 digits are the train identification numbers. A full length train of 6 cars have 2 different identification numbers, one for the first 3 cars, and the same number plus 1, for the other three.
Withdrawal and preservation[]
| Trainset | Decommissioned | Status and Cause | Last Run | Line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201/202 | November 2024 | Second last C651 train to be scrapped and one of the final 2 C651s to be withdrawn from revenue service. Rail Vision has been uninstalled around January 2024. This train was last seen on T901 from Ulu Pandan Depot to Tuas Depot on 4 October 2024. EMU 201 sent for scrap on 9 November 2024; EMU 202 sent for scrap on 16 November 2024. | 30 September 2024 | North South Line |
| 203/204 | September 2020 | Some major failures in the train. The last run was on 21 April 2020 during the lockdown period. It is the first C651 train to be decommissioned. EMU 204 sent for scrap on 5 September 2020; EMU 203 suspected decommissioned in September 2020. | 5 May 2020 | East West Line |
| 205/206 | October 2021 | Not in service since 7 July 2019. The last run it was believed to be on was T120. EMU 206 sent for scrap on 16 October 2021; EMU 205 sent for scrap on 30 October 2021. | 7 July 2019 | East West Line |
| 207/208 | October 2024 | Third last C651 train to be scrapped, one of the final 2 C651s to be withdrawn from revenue service and final C651 train to serve CGL. This train was last seen on T781 from Changi Depot to Tuas Depot on 4 October 2024. Parts were taken from 069/070 (November 2022), 205/206 (October 2021), 215/216 (April 2024), 227/228 (January 2021) and 233/234 (May 2024). EMU 207 sent for scrap on 26 October 2024; EMU 208 sent for scrap on 6 November 2024. | 30 September 2024 | East West Line (Changi Airport) |
| 209/210 | September 2022 | Seat panels were smashed. EMU 209 sent for scrap on 10 September 2022; EMU 210 sent for scrap on 24 September 2022. | 27 December 2021 | East West Line |
| 211/212 | July 2021 | Torn SMRT livery; not in service since November 2018. EMU 212 sent for scrap on 24 July 2021; EMU 211 sent for scrap on 31 July 2021. | 7 November 2018 | East West Line (Changi Airport) |
| 213/214 | August 2024 | The seat of the train tore apart as well as the front tore apart. Also, it was the first C651 to receive the new SMRT chime. EMU 213 sent for scrap on 28 August 2024; EMU 214 sent for scrap on 31 August 2024. | 13 August 2024 | East West Line |
| 215/216 | April 2024 | Decommissioned despite some minor issues such as water looseness, and also cannibalised into spare parts. Some parts are discovered to be from 223/224. Doors, seats and map displays to be preserved by the National Museum came from this set. EMU 216 sent for scrap on 17 April 2024; EMU 215 sent for scrap on 20 April 2024. | 2 April 2024 | East West Line |
| 217/218 | April 2021 | Failed refurbishment due to NRFF. EMU 218 sent for scrap on 10 April 2021; EMU 217 sent for scrap on 24 April 2021. | 27 November 2015 | North South Line |
| 219/220 | December 2022 | Robotic motor on car 2219. EMU 219 sent for scrap on 3 December 2022; EMU 220 sent for scrap on 17 December 2022. | 27 October 2022 | East West Line |
| 221/222 | October 2023 | Gave up repairing the motor; dead motor and slow pickup. Some of the motors were transferred from 209/210. EMU 221 sent for scrap on 4 October 2023; EMU 222 sent for scrap on 7 October 2023. | 6 September 2023 | East West Line |
| 223/224 | May 2023 | Bad condition, slow pickup, flatwheels, loud scrapping bogie sound on 2224. EMU 223 sent for scrap on 31 May 2023; EMU 224 suspected decomissioned in June 2023. | 20 April 2023 | East West Line |
| 225/226 | May 2021 | Failed refurbishment due to NRFF. Components like the auto coupler were already being removed as of 30 May 2020 to be cannibalized into spare parts for other unrefurbished C651 sets. EMU 225 sent for scrap on 22 May 2021; EMU 226 suspected scrap in May 2021. | 6 April 2018 | East West Line (Changi Airport) |
| 227/228 | January 2021 | Failed refurbishment due to NRFF. It was last seen on test around Ang Mo Kio during engineering hours on 6 August 2018, before being transferred from Bishan Depot to Tuas West Depot by 12-car pull out on 16 September 2018 to await scrapping. EMU 227 sent for scrap on 16 January 2021; EMU 228 suspected scrap in January 2021. | 19 October 2016 | East West Line |
| 229/230 | August 2021 | Taken out of service as of August 2020; Cars 3229, 1229, 1230, 3230 were sent to Singapore Police Force (SPF) for training purposes, Car 2229 sent for scrap on 14 August 2021; car 2230 sent for scrap on 28 August 2021. | 14 August 2020 | East West Line |
| 231/232 | December 2021 | The interior and exterior is at the bad condition especially with one STARIS board system hanging on 2231. The parts below also have been removed for other personal use and for the trailer car compared to 3205 and 3206. Not in service since June 2018. EMU 231 sent for scrap on 11 December 2021; EMU 232 sent for scrap on 18 December 2021. | 6 June 2018 | East West Line (Changi Airport) |
| 233/234 | May 2024 | Secretly transferred to Tuas Depot and cannibalised into spare parts. Unrefurbished C151 bogies were found in car 2233. EMU 234 sent for scrap on 18 May 2024; EMU 233 sent for scrap on 23 May 2024. | 3 May 2024 | East West Line |
| 235/236 | October 2022 | Sacrificing 221/222's motor. EMU 235 sent for scrap on 8 October 2022; EMU 236 sent for scrap on 22 October 2022. | 18 June 2022 | East West Line |
| 237/238 | November 2024 | Final C651 train to be scrapped. Train misaligns with PSDs often. There is a loose panel at the priority seat area on car 1238. Cars 1237 and 2237 sent for scrap on 27 November 2024. Cars 1238 and 2238 sent for scrap on 30 November 2024. | 27 September 2024 | East West Line |