Train faults delay journeys on North-South, East-West lines

A train fault had occurred between Jurong East (above) and Bukit Batok MRT stations on the North-South Line. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

SINGAPORE - A train fault extended travelling time on the North-South Line by 15 minutes Friday (Aug 14) morning, the second rail glitch this week.

On Tuesday, another train fault lengthened journeys on the East-West Line by 25 minutes.

Friday's fault was first alerted by Facebook community group Land Transport Guru.

On another community site, Tata SMRT, commuter Mary Lee said she was stuck on board a train for about 10 minutes.

Operator SMRT said at about 9.30am on Friday, a train fault occurred between Jurong East and Bukit Batok MRT stations on the North-South Line towards Marina South Pier.

"Commuters were safely disembarked at Jurong East station," an SMRT spokesman said. "The defective train was subsequently withdrawn to the depot for investigations."

She added that train services continued to be available, but were slower. Normal train services progressively resumed 30 minutes later, from around 10am.

On the Tuesday incident, the operator said at about 5.10pm, a train fault occurred between Chinese Garden and Jurong East MRT stations on the East-West Line towards Pasir Ris.

The defective train was subsequently withdrawn to the depot for investigations. Videos and photos of the withdrawal were shared on Facebook and YouTube by commuters.

SMRT said free regular bus services were made available between Clementi and Boon Lay MRT stations in both directions on Tuesday.

Normal train services progressively resumed half an hour later, from around 5.40pm.

SMRT apologised for both incidents.

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