MRT reliability falls to lowest level since 2020; LRT network improves
On average, MRT trains clocked 1.6 million train-km without delays that lasted more than five minutes in the 12 months ending June 2025.
Summary
- Singapore's MRT reliability declined to near-2020 levels with 1.6 million train-km between delays, falling short of the 1.98 million in 2024.
- North East Line (NEL) and Circle improved, but Downtown, East-West and North South lines fared worse, impacting overall reliability figures.-
- LRT lines showed improved performance, while two delays lasting over 30 minutes occurred on the Circle and Downtown Lines in 2025.
AI generated
Sep 05, 2025
SINGAPORE – The reliability of the MRT network over the 12 months ending June 2025 fell to its lowest level since 2020, based on the latest figures from the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
On average, MRT trains clocked 1.6 million train-km without delays that lasted more than five minutes in the 12 months ending June 2025, down from
1.98 million train-km in 2024.
In 2020, trains travelled an average of 1.45 million train-km without delays.
The LTA publishes reliability figures quarterly, using a 12-month moving average of mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) – an engineering standard that captures the distance a train travels before it encounters a delay of more than five minutes.
Singapore has set an MKBF target of one million train-km for the MRT network – a mark that all MRT lines exceeded despite the overall dip in reliability.
The North East Line (NEL) and Circle Line (CCL) improved in reliability, but the other three MRT lines fared more poorly than in 2024.
Trains on the SMRT-run CCL went an average of 1.07 million train-km between delays, up from the 919,000 train-km in 2024, but still some distance away from the 1.84 million train-km peak achieved in 2022.
The CCL remains the least reliable among the five MRT lines listed in the LTA report, which excluded the SMRT-run Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL). LTA previously said that the TEL’s current operating figures would not accurately reflect its reliability when compared with existing lines.
The NEL dethroned the Downtown Line (DTL) as the best performer on the network, clocking 4.23 million train-km in the period, up from 4.1 million train-km in 2024. Both lines are operated by SBS Transit.
The DTL posted 4.12 million train-km between delays, down from the high of 8.13 million train-km in 2024. DTL had been the best-performing line since 2020.
Coming in third is the East-West Line (EWL), with 1.44 million train-km. This is down from 1.69 million train-km clocked in 2024.
Next is the North-South Line (NSL) with 1.24 million train-km, dropping from 2.49 million train-km in 2024. NSL and EWL, the two oldest lines on the MRT network, are run by SMRT.
Reliability on the LRT network improved to an average of 534,000 car-km between delays in the 12 months ending June 2025, up from 382,000 car-km in 2024.
Both LRT lines fared better – the Sengkang-Punggol LRT run by SBS Transit clocked 1.25 million car-km between delays, compared with 549,000 car-km in 2024.
SMRT-operated Bukit Panjang LRT posted 247,000 car-km, improving on the 232,000 car-km posted in 2024.
The MKBF measure captures the distance that trains travelled between delays, but not the severity of disruptions.
In the first six months of 2025, the LTA report showed there were two delays that lasted more than 30 minutes on the MRT network, one on the CCL and the other on the DTL.
Based on alerts put out by the rail operators on their social media channels, on the afternoon of March 5,
a train fault on the CCL affected services at 10 stations, between Promenade and Serangoon. This prompted SMRT to activate free regular bus services and run a shuttle train service.
The major disruption on the DTL happened on April 28, near the end of passenger service hours.
This latest LTA report does not reflect the major delays that have occurred since July, which include a
three-hour disruption on the Bukit Panjang LRT on July 3.
On Aug 6, a faulty track point machine near Jurong East MRT station
disrupted service on the EWL for five hours.
A power fault that originated from the NEL depot substation
disrupted service on both the MRT line and Sengkang-Punggol LRT for several hours in August.
In a first, the LTA included comparisons with metro systems in other countries in its latest report. The authority noted that these reliability figures are based on the latest publicly available sources, and the range of dates for data from the metros thus differs.
LTA converted the unit of measure for the Singapore’s rail network, which is in train-km, to car-km, which is used by metro operators in Hong Kong and Taipei. It did so by multiplying the train-km figure by the number of train carriages that make up each train.
The CCL and DTL use three-car trains, while the NSL, EWL and NEL use six-car trains.
Based on the latest figures, Singapore ranked above the Hong Kong MTR and New York City Subway in reliability but lagged behind the Taipei Metro’s performance for 2023.
Another chart provided in the report showed how the MRT system fared against metros in large Japanese cities from 2021 to 2023, in terms of the number of service delays exceeding 30 minutes.
In 2023, Singapore’s MRT ranked third, behind Nagoya Subway and Tokyo City – Tokyo Metro, but ahead of Osaka Metro, Tokyo City – Toei Subway, and Yokohama Subway.
