SINGAPORE - A power fault caused a train to stall along the East-West MRT line near Tanah Merah station, resulting in a major delay to commuters during the evening peak on Thursday (March 30).

SMRT initially posted on Twitter at 5.57pm warning of a 20-minute delay due to a train fault, but revised its estimate upwards to 40 minutes in a second tweet at 6.08pm.

Normal train service resumed at about 6.55pm. Free bus services were made available for affected commuters between Tanah Merah and Paya Lebar stations.

SMRT added in a statement that a second train was activated to push the stalled train to Changi depot. Several trains travelling towards Pasir Ris station were also turned around at Bugis, Aljunied and Eunos stations to travel towards Joo Koon to relieve congestion.

Passengers stuck on the pushed train disembarked at Bedok around 6.20pm.

Facebook and Twitter were filled with complaints by commuters, with some saying they were stuck in an MRT train near Tanah Merah.

Said an SMRT spokesman: "We apologise to passengers who had their journeys affected, and will be investigating the cause of the fault."