Overall MRT reliability dips again in September; NSL fares the worst

SBS Transit’s Downtown Line and North East Line are the two best performers

- Esther Loi

The MRT network’s reliability fell for the second consecutive month as at the end of September, compared with August, based on the latest figures from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) released on Nov 14.

On average, MRT trains clocked 1.67 million train-km between delays that lasted more than five minutes between October 2024 and September 2025. This is down from an average of 1.74 million train-km between September 2024 and August 2025.

For the first time, LTA on Nov 14 also published data on three new indicators of reliability and passenger experience to provide a fuller picture of rail performance. One of them, on the punctuality of the MRT network, showed that 99.16 per cent of trains ran on time in September.

The other indicators showed the impact of train disruptions on passengers, and the proportion of train services that operated according to schedule.

In September, there were two major disruptions exceeding 30 minutes on the MRT network - one on the Circle Line (CCL) on Sept 1, and the other on the East-West Line (EWL) on Sept 16. On the LRT network, there was a major three-hour disruption on the Punggol LRT line on Sept 13.

The North-South Line (NSL), run by public transport operator SMRT, was the only MRT line that fared worse than the moving average in the previous month, according to the LTA report.