Two separate faults on the North-South Line exacerbated the peak hour crunch on Monday.

The more severe was a crack in the rail between Somerset and Orchard stations at about 7pm, which resulted in an estimated 10 minutes of additional travelling time, an SMRT spokesman said. The spokesman added that engineers are at the affected track investigating the cause of the incident, and will rectify the fault after service hours.

Researcher Penelope Lim, 22, told The Straits Times that she took 25 minutes to get from Raffles Place to Dhoby Ghaut - a distance of three stops. She was travelling to Toa Payoh for a dinner appointment, but got off at Dhoby Ghaut because "the wait was too long". She added: "People also hit the emergency button because the train kept start-stopping and they had felt ill."

Earlier, a train fault had occurred at Newton MRT station at around 6pm, an SMRT spokesman said. This resulted in about 15 minutes of additional travelling time until the train was removed from service.