Train fault causes nearly 3-hour service disruption on Thomson-East Coast MRT line
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Services on the Thomson-East Coast Line were disrupted due to a train fault on Saturday evening.
PHOTO: ST READER
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SINGAPORE – A train fault at about 7.30pm on Saturday evening caused a train to stall between Woodlands station and Woodlands South station towards Lentor station, causing a service disruption on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) that lasted nearly three hours.
Transport operator SMRT said in an update to a Facebook post at 10.54pm that train services on the TEL had resumed at about 10.15pm, adding that free regular and bridging bus services had ceased.
“We are sorry to all commuters who were affected this evening,” SMRT said.
In a Facebook post addressing the situation at 10.09pm on Saturday, SMRT said that its employees were on-site to assist about 60 commuters from the train that had stalled earlier in the evening, all of whom arrived safely at Woodlands station.
“Train services are running slower as only one single line can be used for both ways on the affected stretch,” said SMRT.
It advised commuters to expect an additional 20 minutes of travelling time or to take alternative modes of transport.
SMRT added that in-train and station announcements were made to inform commuters of the additional train travel time of up to 20 minutes along the affected stretch, and that free regular bus services and bridging bus services were available between Woodlands North and Lentor stations.
Multiple comments on SMRT’s Facebook posts about the disruption highlighted the lack of announcements that train services from Lentor to Woodlands North had ceased, and that announcements at Lentor MRT station were “misleading”.
“There is no transport and proper communication for us at the stations,” said Facebook user Chng Lixia. “There is no announcement regarding Lentor to Woodlands. The announcement is the usual, that the train at Platform A is going to end at Gardens by the Bay.”
In posts on its social media platforms at 8.17pm, SMRT said that due to a train fault, trains were moving slower from Woodlands North towards Lentor, advising commuters that there would be an additional travelling time of 10 minutes.
At about 8.20pm, SMRT then attributed the slow movement of trains to a track signal fault instead, updating commuters that free regular bus services were provided between Woodlands North and Lentor stations.
However, in a post at 8.31pm, SMRT said once more that the disruption was due to a train fault. An update at 8.58pm also revised the additional travelling time to 20 minutes.
In response to a query from The Straits Times, the transport operator told ST to refer to its official and social media channels for information.
Commuters were told to expect up to 20 minutes of additional travelling time due to the disruption.
PHOTO: ST READER
A commuter who wanted to be known only as Mr Toh told ST that he was heading towards Woodlands MRT station when commuters were asked to disembark from the train he was on at about 7.50pm at Lentor MRT station.
Mr Toh observed that the platform for trains heading towards Woodlands North MRT station was closed.
Station staff reportedly told commuters that the issue was a train fault at Woodlands MRT station and requested that they make their way to other MRT stations instead, as there were no shuttle bus services available at the time.
At about 8.10pm, commuters were informed through an announcement that shuttle buses were available. Mr Toh went to the bus stop where the shuttle buses were supposed to pick up passengers, but none came until about 8.25pm, with the bus stop getting increasingly crowded.
“I estimate that there were at least 50 people by that point,” Mr Toh told ST. “So I just gave up and went to another bus stop to take a public bus towards Yishun and switch to the North-South Line.”
He added that he was “quite confused” by SMRT’s initial announcements on their social media platforms at about 8.15pm, as no mention was made that there was no train service towards Woodlands North MRT station when it had already been stopped for about 25 minutes at the time.
“I thought it was far more important to alert passengers that there was no train service for the Woodlands-bound platform than to focus on the other problem, which was that there were slower trains towards Gardens by the Bay.
“This would have helped people heading towards Woodlands in making alternative transport plans,” he said.
