Train services on East-West Line restored after 5-hour disruption

SINGAPORE: Train services on the MRT East-West Line experienced a five-hour disruption on Wednesday (Aug 6) morning, causing frustration during the morning peak hour.

Transport operator SMRT first reported the disruption at about 6am, with commuters travelling along Boon Lay to Buona Vista in the direction of Pasir Ris advised at one point to add 25 minutes to their travel time.

The track point fault that caused the delays was later cleared at 10.58am and train services were restored at 11.05am.

Commuters were advised to download an e-Travel Chit as proof of their travel if their journey had been affected.

SMRT had initially warned commuters in a Facebook post at 6.03am to add 15 minutes of travel time between Boon Lay towards Clementi. This was later updated at 7.17am, warning of a 25-minute delay between Boon Lay and Buona Vista.

Free regular bus and free bridging bus services were also implemented between Boon Lay and Buona Vista stations.

A further update at 9.42am maintained that the delay remained at 25 minutes.

Regular train services continued to operate as usual on the rest of the East-West Line in both directions.

When CNA reached Jurong East station at 8.30am, there was a large crowd of commuters waiting for trains heading towards the city.

Lines formed at each door as a train arrived. Each one remained at the platform for a few minutes as the screen doors opened and closed several times. The trains then began to move off slowly.

Station staff were seen ushering commuters and explaining the situation to them.

At 8.45am the trains appeared to be arriving at shorter intervals and leaving more quickly.

A queue of trains could be observed waiting at Jurong East station to pull into the platform and pick up passengers.

The commuter lines also began to shorten as more passengers were able to board.

One of them was 19-year-old polytechnic student Babu Servess, who was likely to be late for class because of the disruption. Still, he kept a cool head.

“Everyone is also trying their best to make sure the trains are running,” he said. “If late, then late, so be it.”

Another commuter, 27-year-old consultant Clement, expressed frustration at the frequency of disruptions, including the one in September 2024 that went on for six days.

"To me, it's already been way too many times,” said Clement, who declined to give his last name. Fearful of more unexpected delays, he said that he would be tapping out of Jurong East station and taking the bus towards the city to work.

At 9.15am, CNA observed trains departing Jurong East station at a quicker pace, although a backlog of trains waiting to enter the station remained.

Crowd levels had also thinned significantly, possibly due to the natural tapering of peak-hour traffic.

When CNA boarded a train leaving Jurong East towards Buona Vista at 9.30am, it moved slowly and came to a halt several times.

Normal speeds resumed near Clementi station, after which the train operated as usual.

A trip between Jurong East and Buona Vista that would have taken 9 minutes instead lasted about 16 minutes.

SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai said the fault was due to a point machine fault near Jurong East station. 

"Our engineers went onto the track after morning peak hours to investigate and have successfully resolved the issue," he said.

A point machine is used to control train movements at rail junctions when trains move from one track to another. 

For safety reasons, Mr Lam said trains were driven at a slower speed of 18kmh over this faulty point machine, resulting in a delay of up to 25 minutes of train travel time for commuters.

"We apologise for the longer travelling time this morning," he added.

SEPTEMBER 2024 DISRUPTION

The six-day disruption last September resulted in travel chaos along a similar portion of the East-West Line.

An axle box had fallen off from a train and onto the tracks, causing a train’s bogie to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi MRT stations.

This resulted in extensive damage to the tracks and other equipment, and disrupted MRT services along nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown. 

An estimated 500,000 out of 2.8 million train journeys were affected on each day, with train services resuming six days later on Oct 1. 

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) later fined SMRT S$2.4 million (US$1.86 million) after investigations found that the incident was due to multiple lapses, including the malfunction of a warning system on the day itself that could have prevented the disruption.