Ok, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have not enough information, but i just want to give it a try and clarify some things:
For the past week, I've been taking down TRN's of trains i see, and trying to see what pattern does SMRT do everyday when releasing trains into service.
These are my notes (Note that i travel on NSL only, but i think the same pattern works for EWL --> 000 - 049):
1) From 5.00am every morning (interval of 5-7 mins), 050 - 064 (excluding 057) is sent off from Bishan Depot towards JURONG EAST.
2) 057, if i'm not wrong, is sent off a bit later towards MARINA BAY.
3) At the same time, from Ulu Pandan Depot, 075 (or 076 correct me if I'm wrong) - 0?? (Im not sure) will be sent off towards MARINA BAY.
4) The first train that heads off to MARINA BAY (057 most probably, as I noted that after 056 it's 05"8"), passes Bishan Depot again at around 6.07am.
5) 7 trains (04X) are sent off from Bishan Depot at around 6.45am daily and they head towards PASIR RIS.
6) By the end of the morning peak hour, approx. 15 trains return back to depot, and the rest continue on the daily service. (Note that each side has around 8-9 trains.)
7) During the evening peak hour, another approx. 15 more trains are sent off from Bishan Depot towards both directions, and they take up whatever TRNs left available (those that terminate in the morning could be sent out again), whilst Ulu Pandan depot sents off trains heading towards MARINA BAY.
"8") The trains that have operated throughout the morning and early afternoon will terminate back to Bishan Depot starting from 6.30pm (9XX), and the trains that have been sent out in the late afternoon will continue operating until the end of the day. However, trains that have been operating since the morning could be forced to operate until closing time, whereas trains that have been sent out since 4.45pm could terminate in the early evening (sounds a bit unfair)
Please correct me on mistakes, thanks.
honestly i dont think its worth tracking the TRN number...
cos i think they change the whole pattern after some time...
this was the TRN for non-peak in the year 2000... back when i was nuts enough to wait the system's cycle:
052*
059*
053
054
055
081
056*
072
073
058
050
051*
065
066*
077*
078*
060*
085*
057*
082
063
* denotes the trains that were 3rd gen more often than not.
and back in 2000, seeing a 3rd gen was quite miraculous... with only 2 to 16 3rd gens in s'pore from the start to the end of 2000.
i rmb i gave up on the system cos they changed the whole TRN... and when i tried to get used to it they changed again...