SINGAPORE - Commuters on the North East Line (NEL) faced lengthy delays on Wednesday morning (April 11) due to a faulty train at Little India station.

Train service between Potong Pasir and Outram stations was also suspended briefly during the hour-long disruption, before resuming at 8.36am.

Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit's senior vice-president of corporate communications, told The Straits Times that the train "developed a fault which affected train services on the NEL for about an hour" from about 7.30am.

"Longer travel times of about 30 minutes were experienced during this period as a 12-car push out to HarbourFront Station was conducted to get the faulty train off the track," she said.

Ms Tan said free bus rides and free bridging bus services were available between Outram Park and Potong Pasir stations to help commuters to continue their journeys.

Train service resumed progressively from 8.36am, she added.

Ms Tan apologised to affected commuters for the inconvenience caused and said the company was investigating the cause of the train fault.

SBS Transit first tweeted about the fault at Little India station at 7.35am, warning commuters to expect delays of about 15 minutes along the entire line. This was later revised to 30 minutes.

It explained that trains were moving at a slower speed due to the fault.

Corporate secretary Nur Diyana, 26, who was on her way to work at Dhoby Ghaut, told The Straits Times that she boarded the train at Punggol station at 7.15am.

"The train was stuck at the station for 30 minutes before it started moving very slowly," she said.

On Monday morning, commuters also faced delays on a west-bound strech of the East-West Line due to a track fault.