SINGAPORE: A traction power trip was what caused hour-long disruptions to train services along the North-South Line (NSL) and East-West Line (EWL) late on Wednesday night (Jul 12).

It also caused blackouts at several stations.

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According to train operator SMRT, the power trip happened at around 11.35pm in the western sector of the both MRT lines, which affected service between Jurong East and Kranji stations, as well as between Queenstown and Tuas Link stations.

The fault was traced back to the Tuas Depot intake station, which supplies power to Tuas Depot, the East-West Line from Tuas Link to Jurong East stations, and the North-South Line from Jurong East to Kranji stations.

"As a result, trains travelling within the affected sectors on the network came to a halt, while some stations experienced momentary loss of electricity supply," said SMRT's vice president for corporate communications Patrick Nathan in response to queries from Channel NewsAsia.

He added that the Bukit Panjang LRT network was also hit as it draws power from Choa Chu Kang station along the affected stretch.

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SMRT first tweeted about the disruption at around midnight, estimating that services would resume in about half an hour.

Train services between Tuas Link and Queenstown stations resumed at around 12.20am. However in an update at 12.30am, SMRT said that there was still no train service on the East-West Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang due to the power fault.

Eventually at 1.20am, SMRT tweeted: "Cleared: Train service and bridging bus services have ended. Our engineers will continue to work and rectify the fault."

[EWL] CLEARED: Train services between #TuasLink & #Queenstown have resumed. Free regular bus services are still available. — SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) July 12, 2017

Train services from Jurong East to Choa Chu Kang remained closed until the end of service.

Mr Nathan said that SMRT's power engineers responded immediately to the incident and service recovery measures were taken, including activation of power supply from the Buona Vista intake station to restore power to parts of the NSL and EWL.

Investigations into what caused the trip are still being carried out, added Mr Nathan who apologised to commuters for the inconvenience caused.