SINGAPORE - Commuters on the North-South Line faced delays during their Tuesday morning (Jan 22) commute because of a train fault at Marsiling MRT station that lasted about an hour.
Replying to queries, train operator SMRT said that a train travelling towards Jurong East had stalled near Marsiling station at about 7.50am due to a fault with its signalling equipment.
SMRT later said in a tweet at about 8am that commuters should add 30 minutes of travelling time from Woodlands to Yew Tee, in the direction of Jurong East.
It added that free regular bus services between Woodlands and Yew Tee would be available to affected commuters.
In an update at about 8.30am, SMRT said commuters should add 15 minutes to their train journeys. This was later cut to 10 minutes.
SMRT vice-president of corporate communications Margaret Teo told The Straits Times that another train was activated immediately to push the faulty train to the station platform for commuters to disembark safely.
The faulty train was then hauled back to the depot for further checks, Ms Teo said, adding that train service resumed progressively from 8.35am.
"We apologise to commuters whose morning commute was affected by the incident," she added.
An hour after its first announcement, the train operator said on Twitter that the fault had cleared.
Free regular bus services between Woodlands and Yew Tee ended after train service between the stretch resumed, SMRT said.
Earlier, several netizens took to social media to share their frustration over the delay, which happened during the morning peak period.
Facebook user Heng Wey Chuan posted a photo at about 8am showing a large crowd on the platform of Sembawang station.
He said that there was an announcement at the station notifying commuters of the delay.
While SMRT has said that only trains towards Jurong East were affected, several commuters reported that trains travelling in the direction of Marina Bay appeared to be delayed as well.
Twitter user Hadi Abdul, who shared photos of the scene at Marsiling station, said that trains travelling in both directions were slow.
He said that he saw some commuters alighting from the train to take cabs instead.
