PUBLISHED ONNovember 14, 2025 4:00 AMBYLim KeweiTo better reflect rail reliability and passenger experience, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be including three additional indicators in its monthly rail reliability reports.
These include train service delivery, train punctuality and passenger impact of rail disruptions — and they are meant to give the public a more comprehensive representation of the MRT network's performance, said the authority on Friday (Nov 14).
The agency released its monthly rail reliability report, which for the first time includes more detailed data on train trips and disruptions.
Singapore's rail reliability is mainly tracked using the mean kilometres between failure (MKBF) metric, which counts the average distance a train travels before it meets a delay lasting over five minutes.
Alongside this, the number of train delays that last over 30 minutes is also included in rail performance reports.
Beginning Friday, the monthly report will see the addition of the three performance indexes, which the authority has been tracking as a regulatory standard, to complement the currently reported data by measuring other facets contributing to rail reliability.
For instance, the extent of service disruptions can be better captured through gauging train service delivery (TSD), which measures the percentage of train trips that proceed as scheduled.
The higher the percentage score, the more trains that travelled as scheduled across the entire MRT network, which signals higher reliability. In the event of a disruption, trains travel lesser distance, hence lowering the TSD.
Singapore's whole MRT network scored 99.83 per cent in September 2025. The TSD in August was 99.65 per cent, and July measured 99.89 per cent.
| Train Service Delivery | |||
| Month | July 2025 | August 2025 | September 2025 |
| Overall MRT network | 99.89% | 99.65% | 99.83% |
| North-South Line | 99.93% | 99.90% | 99.88% |
| East-West Line | 99.81% | 99.72% | 99.90% |
| North-East Line | 99.93% | 99.07% | 99.69% |
| Circle Line | 99.83% | 99.72% | 99.60% |
| Downtown Line | 99.95% | 99.52% | 99.94% |
The authority stated in the report that the TSD is expected to be high as service disruptions typically affect just a segment of one MRT line for a certain part of a day.
In September 2024, the East-West Line was hit by a six-day disruption impacting its Western segment. The line recorded a yearly TSD of 99.42 per cent.
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Another pointer of high rail reliability is punctual and regular trains.
In Singapore, trains which complete their trip at the end of each line or a scheduled turnaround point within a two minute buffer period are considered "on time".
Train punctuality reflects train faults, service delays and operational issues such as slower travel speeds due to minor faults, as well as other irregularities including longer wait times at MRT stations and use of the emergency communication button.
While Singapore's trains generally obtain above 99 per cent in train punctuality, LTA reported that this indicator is more challenging to maintain on shorter lines because operators have is less time to adjust travel speeds or dwell times if a train is delayed.
The North-East Line, which is the shortest MRT line, displayed a score of 96.98 per cent in August and 97.81 per cent in September. There were two incidents of service disruptions on the North-East Line in August.
| Train Punctuality | |||
| Month | July 2025 | August 2025 | September 2025 |
| Overall MRT network | 99.47% | 98.91% | 99.16% |
| North-South Line | 99.24% | 99.34% | 99.61% |
| East-West Line | 99.19% | 99.24% | 99.20% |
| North-East Line | 99.20% | 96.98% | 97.81% |
| Circle Line | 99.85% | 99.71% | 99.38% |
| Downtown Line | 99.85% | 99.29% | 99.78% |
For the year of 2024, the North-East Line likewise had lower train punctuality of 98.85 per cent as compared to the other MRT lines. The East-West Line clocked 99.30 per cent despite the six-day service suspension.
The third addition to the monthly rail reliability reports is the measure of service disruption severity, done by approximating the number of of commuters affected by delays that last more than 30 minutes.
"This estimate is based on the historical average ridership through the affected section during the period of disruption, as ridership data during the actual incident may not fully capture the impact of the incident (e.g. commuters may have chosen a different route to avoid the incident)," LTA explained.
Among train disruptions which occurred in the past 12 months, the Aug 12 disruption to service on the North-East Line caused by power failure affected the most passengers.
Based on MKBF data in the report, the reliability of the overall MRT network — excluding the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) — fell in September, with the 12-month moving average standing at 1,671,000 train-km.
In comparison, the MBKF figures for August and July was slightly higher at 1,740,000 train-km and 1,818,000 train-km respectively. The average lowest distance travelled without delays over five minutes recorded in the past year was 1,598,000 train-km in June.
The North-South Line was the only line which saw a decrease in MKBF, recording 1,236,000 train-km at end September from 1,648,000 train-km at end August.
"Two separate service delays exceeding five minutes on the North-South Line occurred on Sep 2 and Sep 14, contributing to the dip in the NSL's MKBF for September 2025," an LTA spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that both incidents were resolved within 30 minutes.
This September saw three MRT service disruptions that lasted over 30 minutes: the Circle Line on Sept 1, the East-West Line on Sept 16 and the Thomson-East Coast Line on Sept 17.
Additionally, the TEL's MKBF, which is reported separately as the line is not yet fully operational, dipped to 287,000 train-km at end September from 311,000 train-km at the end of August.
LTA caveated that MKBF has limitations, especially for newer lines which typically experience teething issues that may cause delays of a different nature.
The authority and operator SMRT said they have been working with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to resolve such teething issues faced by the TEL, which included the signalling system.
"As works on TEL Stage 5 are still underway by LTA, the operator and OEMs, more time is needed before the TEL’s performance stabilises," it added.
"We expect the performance of the TEL to improve after it fully opens in 2026 and its operations have stabilised, such that its fault trends can be fairly compared with our other mature lines."
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lim.kewei@asiaone.com
