Train services on a stretch of the East-West Line were disrupted for more than a three-hour period yesterday evening.

Disruption to train services between Joo Koon and Clementi started at around 6.30pm, and returned to normal at about 10.15pm.

The Straits Times understands that a track circuit failure between Jurong East and Clementi was the cause of the problem.

The initial delay for passengers was estimated to be 10 minutes. This grew to 20 minutes, and then to 25 minutes.

Train operator SMRT first tweeted that there was a track fault at 6.34pm.

To alleviate a build-up of commuters who were eastbound, passengers on westbound services were told to disembark at Queenstown station to wait for the next west- bound train.

The trains then turned around to ferry east-bound passengers from Redhill station.

SMRT said in a statement last night that as a result of the track fault, trains had to travel at slower speeds across the affected stretch for commuter safety. It also apologised for the inconvenience caused.

This delay comes less than a week after a morning disruption on Jan 19 which caused MRT trains to crawl haltingly between Boon Lay and Clementi stations.

The delays from around 7.30am to 10am were traced to a track circuit glitch between Jurong East and Clementi stations.