MRT service reliability dips to lowest point since 2020, LRT sees improvement from 2024

Rail service reliability for MRT lines has fallen to its lowest since 2020.

PHOTO: AsiaOne file

PUBLISHED ONSeptember 05, 2025 8:35 AMBYKhoo Yi-Hang

Service reliability for MRTs has hit the lowest level since 2020, according to statistics released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Friday (Sep 5).

The mean distance travelled between delays over five minutes hit a low of 1.59 million train-km between July 2024 and June 2025 — the lowest since 2020, which was 1.45 million train-km.

LTA uses a measure of mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) which is the average distance a train travels before it encounters a delay of more than five minutes.

The current MKBF target for the MRT network is one million train-km, the authority stated.

Between 2021 and 2024, the figure hovered between 1.90 million train-km and 2.09 million train-km, significantly higher than both figures in 2020 and 2025.

Within the period of July 2024 and June 2025, the Downtown Line, East-West Line and North-South Line saw declines in their mean distance travelled between delays.

The Downtown Line in particular had a dip of nearly 4 million train-km travelled between delays, dropping from 8.11 million train-km to 4.12 million train-km.

The North-East Line and Circle Line both saw a slight increase from the previous period, according to the LTA.

Between the first and second quarter of 2025, there were two service delays over 30 minutes across all MRT lines.

Notably, the most significant delay between the specified period of July 2024 and June 2025 was a disruption on the East-West Line in September last year.

The disruption spanned six days amid repairs required for service to resume. It also resulted in a fine of $3 million imposed on train operator SMRT.

Conversely, the overall LRT network saw an increase in rail service reliability compared to the previous year, with zero service delays over 30 minutes in the first two quarters of 2025.

The increase in reliability was also evident in how the mean distance travelled between delays over five minutes increased from 382,000 car-km in 2024 to 534,000 car-km within the 12 months ending June 2025.