SINGAPORE: SMRT’s North-South Line (NSL) and East-West Line (EWL) were afflicted by track circuit faults on Tuesday (Apr 18), resulting in delays for commuters during the morning peak hour.

In a statement, SMRT said the track circuit faults resulted in trains having to travel at a slower speed for commuter safety.

“In the new signalling system that is currently being tested, the ageing track circuits will be replaced with a more advanced system that is more reliable as it is built with multiple redundancies for greater reliability. After we renew the signalling system, faulty track circuits will no longer cause prolonged delays for commuters,” said Mr Patrick Nathan, vice president for Corporate Information and Communications at SMRT.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to affected passengers.”

The train operator first posted about a 10-minute delay due to a track fault on the NSL, between Bishan and Khatib stations towards the Jurong East direction, at 7.19am on its Twitter account.

At 8.35am, it tweeted that commuters on the EWL would also be expecting an additional 10 minutes’ travel time from the Paya Lebar to Simei stations towards Pasir Ris due to a track fault.

Tweet: First EWL tweet Apr 18

SMRT said in later updates that the delays were due to track faults at Khatib on the NSL and Simei on the EWL.

As of about 9.40am, the transport operator estimated the additional travel time expected for commuters on the NSL and EWL is 20 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively.

Tweet: NSL latest

Tweet: EWL latest

About an hour later, at 10.58am, SMRT said train services from Paya Lebar to Simei, towards Pasir Ris, resumed. It then sent out another tweet at 11.19am saying that additional travel time was down to five minutes from Bishan to Khatib on the NSL, and it is still working to recover the service.

SMRT said at 12.41pm that train services from Bishan to Khatib has resumed.

SINGAPORE: A new United Overseas Bank (UOB) account was launched on Tuesday (Apr 18) that allows customers to earn KrisFlyer miles when they save or spend.

The KrisFlyer UOB Account, which will be available from Wednesday, allows customers who prefer to spend on a debit card or who are in the early stages of their careers and may not be eligible for a credit card to accumulate KrisFlyer miles, the bank and KrisFlyer said in a joint press release.

The rate of miles accrual depends on the account balance of customers. For instance, customers with between S$3,000 and S$100,000 in their accounts earn 1.4 miles for each dollar spent using their Krisflyer UOB debit cards, while at the other end of the spectrum, those with at least S$350,000 in their accounts earn 5.4 miles for every dollar spent.

Customers need to spend a minimum of S$500 dollars per calendar month to earn miles on their spending, both parties added.

According to UOB, travel accounted for 22 per cent of all spending made through UOB credit and debit cards in 2016, with 37 per cent spent on flights. More than half – specifically, 60 per cent – of the spending on flights were on flights under the Singapore Airlines group, it said.

The bank aims to open at least 200,000 KrisFlyer UOB accounts over the next five years, it said.

SINGAPORE: A 60-year-old man was charged on Tuesday (Apr 18) for allegedly starting a fire in St Hilda’s Church on Easter Sunday.

Yeo Liang Chai, the church’s caretaker, allegedly set fire to some books inside a room on the second floor between 6.45am and 6.50am on Sunday. No one was injured, although the fire destroyed some used children’s clothes, toys and educational books, St Hilda’s Church said in a statement on Monday.

Yeo appeared in court on Tuesday dressed in a white shirt and appeared calm. He will be remanded for a week to assist the police in the investigation. He had no lawyer.

The blaze was contained and quickly put out by the SCDF, and all Easter Sunday services were held as planned, the church said on Monday, adding that it is helping the accused and his family through this difficult time.

Yeo will next appear in court on Apr 25.

For committing mischief by fire, Yeo could be jailed for life or for up to 10 years, and fined.

SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be making a trip to Washington, DC, from Apr 18 to 23, where he will meet the heads of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release on Tuesday (Apr 18) that Mr Tharman will also be meeting with top US officials and heads of other multilateral development institutions.

The Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies will also speak at the Bretton Woods Committee Annual Meeting, chair a Group of Thirty Occasional Lecture and participate in meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the press release said.

Mr Tharman will be accompanied by officials from the PMO and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, it added.

SINGAPORE: The premises of the former Pioneer Secondary School at Jurong West Street 81 are to be repurposed as a foreign system school, following the launch of a tender for foreign system school operators by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Tuesday (Apr 18).

The tender is aimed at attracting operators “interested in providing more affordable foreign system education”, according to a joint press release from SLA and EDB.

Foreign system schools strengthen Singapore’s position as an attractive city, said EDB’s director of human capital Marcus Dass in the news release.

“Foreign system schools play a part in strengthening Singapore’s position as an attractive global city and home for business,” he said. “While many existing foreign system schools in Singapore have been delivering high quality international education, there are requests for more affordable and diverse school options.

“Suitable premises without extensive facilities common in many existing international schools will allow operators the opportunity to provide quality international school education at a more affordable fee,” Mr Dass added.

Yap Eai-Sy, SLA’s deputy director of business planning and development, said that the “conversion of a former school would provide for cost efficiencies against the capital outlay required for the construction of a new building.”

Ms Yap added that the tender will ask for a “3+3+3 year rental scheme” instead of a 30-year lease, which she said would reduce capital outlay for operators.

The tender opens on Tuesday. Those who are interested in the site can visit SLA’s State Property Information Online website for more information.

SINGAPORE: A 69-year-old man has been arrested for causing public alarm after he allegedly left a “suspicious white substance” at Woodleigh MRT station, triggering a temporary closure of the MRT station for about three hours on Tuesday (Apr 18), Singapore Police Force (SPF) said.

In a Facebook post, police said that they were alerted at about 1pm to “a case of suspicious white substance found at Woodleigh MRT station.”

“Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) HazMat officers subsequently established the substance to be baking flour. Police investigations are ongoing,” said SPF.

“The police treat all security threats seriously and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who cause public alarm.”

In a subsequent update on Tuesday night, police said that two other men, aged 53 and 70, were assisting with investigations.

Preliminary investigations showed that the two were together with the man who had left the white substance at the MRT station, police said, adding that investigators established that the flour had been used to mark a trail for their running route.

Assistant station manager Mailyn B Carriaga told Channel NewsAsia that white powder had been found in three or four places at the station’s concourse area. She added that it was a cleaner who first spotted the substance. The station manager then informed the police, according to Ms Carriaga.

Woodleigh white substance TWT

This is the second such incident in recent weeks, after Hougang MRT station was temporarily closed on Apr 2 for security reasons. A 39-year-old was arrested for causing a public nuisance after investigations revealed he had temporarily left a bag unattended in the station while he ran an errand.