Authorities call telcos to turn off mobile services in CCL

Telcos have been instructed by the authorities to turn off mobile services until 10.30pm within the Circle Line in what is likely an attempt to pinpoint to exact cause of the recurring intermittent signal fault that has been ploughing the network.

Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT ) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) have just announced on Wednesday (2 November) that their preliminary investigations into the major service disruption on the Circle Line (CCL) on that day could be similar to that of the incidents in September this year and said that temporary telecommunication signal suspensions to be carried out to assist in investigations.

CCL experienced intermittent loss of signalling-related communications on Wednesday morning that led to multiple delays of train services at various locations within the network. Preliminary investigations by LTA and SMRT indicate that the nature of the faults could be similar to that of the incidents that occurred on the CCL in September this year.

LTA and SMRT said yesterday that they had arranged with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and mobile network operators to suspend telecommunication signals along stretches of CCL for short periods of time to assist in investigations, should similar signalling faults recur. They said that if temporary telecommunication signal suspensions have to be carried out, there would be in-train and station announcements along the affected stretches.