Commuters face longer journeys on first full Sunday closure of eastern stretch of EWL

SINGAPORE — For Indian tourist Revi, a journey that normally takes as little as 50 minutes from his hotel in Queenstown to Changi Airport dragged out for nearly 1.5 hours on Sunday (Jan 21).

Mr Revi was among the thousands of commuters whose journeys were affected by the first of two full Sunday MRT station closures on the eastern stretch of the East-West Line (EWL).

Setting off from his Queenstown hotel at 7.50am, Mr Revi, who was in Singapore on a three-day holiday with his daughter, was making his way to the airport by MRT. He was not aware of the closures until he arrived at Aljunied MRT Station, where he was told to hop on a shuttle bus to Tanah Merah. There, the 45-year-old switched to another shuttle bus service to Changi Airport.

When TODAY spoke to him on the bus to the airport about 9.05am, Mr Revi was worried he might miss his flight. While it posed some inconvenience, the IT professional acknowledged: “The (marshals) were able to guide us. We didn’t feel it was that much trouble.”

(Above: Commuters taking the shuttle bus from Changi Airport Terminal 3, 21 Jan. 10 stations on the eastern sector of the East-West Line are closed for a full day today.  Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY)

TODAY’s ride between Tanah Merah Station and Changi Airport Terminal 3 took about 20 minutes, longer than the usual eight-minute commute on the MRT.

Ten MRT stations from Paya Lebar to Pasir Ris, and Expo and Changi Airport are to shut completely this and next Sunday, to allow engineers from rail operator SMRT to speed up track maintenance and renewal works.

Three hundred shuttle buses are plying four routes to ferry commuters between stations. These are from Aljunied to Pasir Ris (both ways), Tanah Merah to Changi Airport Terminal 3 (both ways), Aljunied to MacPherson (one direction), and an express service from Changi Airport Terminal 3 to Bugis (both ways).

(Above: Commuters being informed of the East-West Line closure at Tampines MRT station, 21 Jan. 10 stations on the eastern sector of the East-West Line are closed for a full day today.  Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY)

At Tanah Merah MRT Station, the shutdown of services caught many commuters by surprise, as crowd marshals fielded questions on directions to alternative transport.

Madam Chew Lee, 57, was on her way to visit her 84-year-old mother in Toa Payoh. While she saw notices on the shutdowns in stations, the housewife did not know what they were about.

“Cutting down train service suddenly is so odd,” she said in Mandarin. “Without trains, it’s so inconvenient.”

Others, however, lauded the alternative transport arrangements. Operations manager Josephine Chiang had an appointment at the airport with her boss who was transiting through Singapore en route to Taiwan. The 53-year-old said the shuttle buses were “not crowded, very organised and smooth”.

(Above: Signs showing commuters where to take the shuttle bus from Tampines, 21 Jan. 10 stations on the eastern sector of the East-West Line are closed for a full day today.  Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY)

Rail operator SMRT said earlier that, during the shortened operation hours this month, 20 per cent more staff will be deployed to handle queries from commuters. In all, a 1,200-strong crew — including bus captains operating the shuttle buses — will fan out to the affected stations.

On Sunday, marshals, including staff members from SMRT and security firm Focal, were seen at Tanah Merah MRT Station. There are a total of 24 crew from Focal deployed at the station on Sunday, a staff member with the company who declined to be named told TODAY.

Marshals from Focal are split into two shifts — from 8am to 3.30pm, and 3.30pm to 11pm. Some are working both shifts, clocking 15 hours, she said.

On top of a S$10 hourly pay, marshals are given a S$10 meal allowance and S$15 transport allowance per shift. “The benefits are good,” said the staff member.

The shortened operation hours on the EWL’s eastern stretch follow a similar move to curtail hours on the western section of the line last month. A total of 19 stops were affected then, including two on the North-South Line.

The authorities announced the shortened hours in November last year after two trains collided at Joo Koon MRT Station. The downtime will help quicken work to get a new signalling system going on the EWL by June instead of year’s end, as previously planned.

Until the first week of February, the affected eastern stretch of the EWL will also shut earlier at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and open later at 8am on Saturdays and Sundays.

In March, the reduced hours will be widened to all 35 EWL stations until the first Sunday of April.

Besides trimming operation hours on weekends, two weekdays in the week-long March school holiday — Mar 12 and Mar 14 — will see stations along the entire line shut down at 10.30pm. There will not be all-day closures on the EWL in February and March.