The renewal of Singapore’s North East Line (NEL)Â power supply system is scheduled to begin in 2026.
This news follows the Government’s acceptance of recommendations from the Rail Reliability Taskforce in February 2026, which highlighted the need for a more resilient backup system for the NEL.
The case for accelerated renewal
The Rail Reliability Taskforce Report investigated a series of rail disruptions between July and September 2025, including a major NEL outage in August 2025, resulting in a three-hour disruption of the NEL. Services on the Sengkang–Punggol LRT were not fully restored until around 10 hours after the incident.
Investigations revealed that a power trip at the Sengkang Rail Depot substation had knock‑on effects across both MRT and LRT networks. The Taskforce report identifies traction power subsystems as especially vulnerable to cascading failures, where the failure of one component increases electrical load and stress on adjacent assets operating near capacity, potentially leading to large-scale outages and component damage.
According to the Straits Times, these power renewal works were previously planned for later years, but have now been brought forward by about three years.
How the NEL Is Powered
From a technical standpoint, unlike most Singapore rail lines that use a 750V DC third‑rail system, the NEL operates on a 1,500V DC overhead catenary system (OCS). Traction power is drawn via pantographs mounted on the train roof.
The NEL obtains power from the Singapore PowerGrid via two separate power intakes – one at Sengkang Depot (66kV), and another near Stamford Road (22kV) that is co-located with a power intake for the North South & East West Lines (NSEWL). The Sengkang Intake receives power at 66kV and has two transformers to step it down to 22kV.
Traction power substations (TPSS), which are located at 7 stations along the line (spaced roughly every 3.2 km), convert the 22kV AC from the high-voltage distribution network into 1,500V DC that supplies the overhead catenary. Of these 7 TPSS, 3 of them have inverters (spaced roughly every 6.6 km) that convert excess power from regenerative braking of trains back to the AC network.
Scope of Renewal works
According to LTA, renewal works beginning in 2026 will include:
- Upgrading the existing power intake at the Sengkang Depot to a higher capacity, allowing it to ‘comfortably’ supply the entire line, with sufficient buffer for future needs
- Installing additional Traction Power Sub-stations (TPSS) to augment the traction power capacity of the NEL and SPLRT
- In the longer term, studying the feasibility of a new, higher‑capacity dedicated backup intake in the City area for the NEL. LTA said details are still being studied with the rail operators.
Earlier in October 2025, SBS Transit pre-emptively replaced the rectifier transformers at Potong Pasir station after about 23 years in service, ahead of its typical lifespan of 30 years. There are 16 such rectifier transformers across the NEL, and SBS Transit plans to complete all replacements within the ‘next two to three years’.
Renewal works are expected to span several years. LTA has been explicit that longer service closures may be required to create sufficient engineering windows for renewal works to be carried out safely and tested thoroughly—also a recommendation by the Taskforce.
External Links & References
- LTA | Joint News Release by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), SMRT & SBS Transit – LTA and Rail Operators Will Progressively Implement Rail Reliability Taskforce Recommendations to Strengthen Overall Network Reliability [Published 13 Feb 2025]
- NEL power system to be upgraded; rail task force proposals to be rolled out over coming years | The Straits Times [Published 13 Feb 2025]
- Potong Pasir station replaces its rectifier transformers earlier to avoid failures | The Straits Times [Published 26 Oct 2025]
- Singapore’s train operators boost reliability efforts with seamless rail welding, new power components – CNAÂ [Published 29 Oct 2025]
- E. J. Goh, K. N. Chu and N. K. Ng, “1500 V DC traction system for the North East Line,” 2004 International Conference on Power System Technology, 2004. PowerCon 2004., Singapore, 2004, pp. 1904-1909 Vol.2, doi: 10.1109/ICPST.2004.1460312.