An airplane mounted on a trailer was stranded on the Tampines Expressway for more than an hour on Monday morning, unable to pass under an overhead pedestrian bridge.

The Boeing 737-300, which weighs more than 56,000kg, or nine adult elephants, with its wings and nose removed, was being moved from Seletar Airport to the airport emergency services training ground of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) in Upper Changi Road.

The trailer, bearing its gigantic cargo, was trundling down the extreme left lane of the expressway at about 1am when it came to the bridge. It had to slow down and stop.

Tampines resident Jackie Ong, 24, who lives in Block 492C in Tampines Street 45, just off the highway, said, 'The trailer moved back and forth but it wasn't able to pass under the bridge with the plane on it.'

Finally, some air was let out of the tyres of the trailer to lower its height. The trailer then passed under the bridge, but on the extreme right lane, where the bridge is slightly higher off the ground than the other sections.

All three lanes of the affected section of the TPE had to be closed during this manoeuvre, which stranded about 15 cars on the highway.

Mr Ong, a director of a food and beverage company, said he was for a while worried that the plane might not be cleared out of the way by the following morning, which would cause traffic to back up during the morning rush hour.

The trailer and airplane was escorted by security officers during its entire journey.