Train faults delay journeys on NSL and EWL this week

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

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

Yesterday's fault was raised 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 yesterday that a train fault had 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," said a spokesman for SMRT.

"The defective train was subsequently withdrawn to the depot for investigations."

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

For the Tuesday incident, the operator said that at about 5.10pm that day, 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The defective train was subsequently withdrawn to the depot for investigations.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 photographs 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.

The train operator apologised for both incidents.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 15, 2020, with the headline Train faults delay journeys on NSL and EWL this week. Subscribe