Acts of kindness helped to lift harassed commuters' spirits even as chaos prevailed during the disruption of train services on Tuesday evening.

Staff at Changi Airport, which has an MRT station on the East- West Line in Terminal 3, distributed water to stranded commuters. At a McDonald's outlet at Changi City Point shopping mall, staff also gave out free drinks, according to a Twitter post.

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, wrote on his Facebook page about another act of kindness: Car owners who posted online offers of rides to people who needed it .

This was something that programme executive Tong Sian Choo saw first-hand. She alighted from a bus at Marymount near Bishan, and a car owner asked if anyone needed a ride to Yishun - a young man took up the offer.

It was after 11pm then and Ms Tong was waiting for her boyfriend to give her a lift home. They also did their part and gave a ride - to a full-time national serviceman to Sembawang camp. In the 31/2 hours it took her to get to her home in Yishun from the Somerset station, she encountered other heartwarming moments.

She was given directions from a fellow passenger who overheard her asking for them, and another passenger lent her a mobile phone so she could call her mother.

She also saw another commuter standing with her arms wide open on the kerb at a crowded bus stop near Somerset station to prevent a crowd of people from spilling onto the road. "It was heartwarming, and quite amazing, how everyone took the initiative and managed the mini-crisis together," she said.