The Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang C151A is the fourth generation electric multiple unit rolling stock in operation on the North–South and East–West lines of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and CRRC Qingdao Sifang under Contract 151A. Their introduction to the network has increased the capacity of both lines by 15%. They are the last batch of rolling stock on the two lines to be painted in the "Blackbird" livery. Developed from the KNS C751B sets, further developments of the type include the C151B and C151C featuring design updates and changes. The C151A was the first rolling stock on the MRT network to be manufactured in China. The initial contract of 22 trainsets of 6 cars each was awarded to KHI and Sifang by the Land Transport Authority. In 2013, a further order of 13 trainsets under was placed, with all 35 trainsets in revenue service as of 2014. In 2016, an investigative news report from Hong Kong's FactWire alleged that C151A trainsets were discreetly being shipped back to Qingdao for rectification due to multiple defects, including an exploding battery and cracks on trains. The Singapore government subsequently acknowledged the trains were returned for rectification works, and have since published official statements to address FactWire's specific allegations. History On May 6, 2009, the Land Transport Authority announced that KHI and Sifang had won over Hyundai Rotem, Bombardier Transportation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to secure the contract at a cost of S$369 million, despite Hyundai Rotem offering the lowest bid at S$323 million for the order of 22 trainsets under Batch 1. Sifang handled the manufacturing and testing of the rolling stock, while KHI oversaw the project and design. The C151A contract was the first successful joint venture between these two companies in the international market. With the delivery of C151A trainsets, trains were actually operated on the East–West Line until October 2013. C151As were temporarily suspended from the North–South Line during the MRT disruption in 2011, starting from 7 May 2012 all the way until 23 October 2013. SMRT engineers detected arcing problems on one of the C151As, but no evidence was shown that it was the root cause of the service suspension in 2015. During the suspension of the C151A running on the North–South Line, SMRT had investigated and found impurities in aluminium bodywork caused the cracks found in structural