MRT had multiple breakdowns in Sept 2025, but the bigger picture tells a different story
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, any opinions expressed below belong solely to the author. Data sourced from official sources.
Singapore’s public transit system isn’t having a good month after several disruptions in Sept alone caused lengthy delays in service, especially on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th, when a series of faults on three MRT and one LRT lines came one after another. Obviously, it amplified the poor impression of the commuters and forced the acting Minister for Transport, Jeffrey Siow, to explain just what’s going on.
Meanwhile, Mr Lam Sheau Kai, president of SMRT Trains, did not win many fans after defending the company’s track record, saying that the recent MRT disruptions were isolated, not systemic in nature, triggering satirical commentary on social media in response.
However, let’s be fair to the people running a system carrying billions around the city each year and look at some objective measures of reliability to see how big the problem really is.
Falling reliability? Yes, but…
News outlets were quick to seize on the opportunity, pointing out that the network reliability for the past 12 months from Jun 2025 has fallen to the lowest level since 2020. And yes, that is true, but it still remains well above the target of 1 million kilometres between failures.
What they failed to mention is just how big of an improvement the network as a whole registered from 2018 onward.
Yes, the data does not include the spate of faults recorded this month, but there were only two lengthy disruptions on the MRT network in the first half of 2025, compared to seven in 2024. At the moment, we already know that this figure is either going to be matched or even slightly exceeded in 2025, but it is not likely to be meaningfully different from what was reported in previous years.
To add to the perspective, here’s how these numbers compare with the often vaunted Hong Kong MTR:
More lines = more incidents
One of the problems with judging a network’s reliability is that the larger it grows, the more incidents are bound to happen and, as a result, capture the public attention.
If anything, Singapore seems to be bucking that unfavourable trend by keeping the number of relatively major incidents lower than before the expansions in the recent decade, with the addition of two major lines: DTL and TEL.
That said, the latter’s hiccups over the last year add to the impression that something is amiss with reliability, and it has to be noted that its performance is not yet counted into the overall network statistics, as the line is both new and incomplete. Which is why you may feel a slight disconnect between the official figures and your personal experience, or what the media reports.
You do have to remember, however, that with the addition of the TEL, there are now 40 additional kilometres of tracks, stations and dozens of trains. Once they suffer a fault, it’s good to remind yourself that you wouldn’t even hear about it if they weren’t there.
Can Singapore do better?
The pursuit of perfection never ends, and as long as there’s a disruption somewhere every now and then, there is always going to be a feeling that things could be better.
In terms of car-km (not train-km, a slightly different figure), Singapore is still behind Taipei, which is clocking 20 million car-km between faults compared to MRT’s 7 million — though it is still ahead of Hong Kong’s 4 million or, by comparison to a Western network, New York City’s paltry 187,000.
So, yes, while there is still room for improvement, we have to maintain a sense of proportion. Despite the unfortunate series of stumbles reported this month, MRT is still very reliable by global standards—and much, much more so than it was a decade ago.
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash/ @s5a0043