TEL delay and lack of information via SMRT’s social media rankle passengers
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The delays were communicated on announcement boards at stations but not on social media, and this raised the ire of some netizens.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – Some passengers on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) experienced a delay of up to 30 minutes on the morning of Nov 18.
Announcement boards at train stations informed passengers of the delay between Caldecott and Gardens by the Bay stations – a stretch of 11 stops – according to a Reddit post, which attracted 98 comments.
In a photo of one of the announcement boards, posted at 6.37am, train operator SMRT said that free regular bus services were available at affected stations. Public announcements were also made at the stations.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai said on Nov 18 afternoon that there was a “minor delay” on the TEL due to a fault involving an engineering train.
Rectification works were needed before full train service could resume, he said, without revealing what time the delay first surfaced.
Train service resumed progressively from 6.40am and was fully restored by 7.15am, he added.
However, the lack of updates about the issue on SMRT’s social media pages on the morning of Nov 18 had raised the ire of some netizens.
One user said at 7.02am: “No updates on the official channels... We’re just supposed to get to the MRT station, then realise there’s a breakdown.”
In a photo of one of the announcement boards, posted at 6.37am, train operator SMRT said that free regular bus services were available at affected stations.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM ZEROPAUPER/REDDIT
Another questioned what the threshold time is before SMRT makes public announcements on delays and disruptions.
“I’ve seen it enough to stop giving them the benefit of doubt... the announcements are managed, not for practicality but to manage the public’s perception,” said the user at 8.44am.
“So I wonder how many minutes of disruption before they decide to announce and of course, the time taken to resolve will affect the announcement too.”
Mr Lam said that during this period, normal train service continued on all stretches of the line, except between Caldecott and Gardens by the Bay stations.
“In this affected sector, we operated a shuttle train service, enabling commuters to make cross-platform transfers to continue their journeys,” he said.
He said the additional travel time that passengers had to factor into their journeys varied depending on their origin and destination.
Most people were likely to have made a single transfer, resulting in an estimated delay of between 15 and 30 minutes, he added.
