Signal fault causes two-hour disruption on Thomson-East Coast Line
There were no train services between Woodlands North and Bayshore at one point "to facilitate train service recovery".
Thomson-East Coast Line services affected due to signal fault on Sep 17, 2025. (Photo: Alvin Chong)
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SINGAPORE: Train services on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) were disrupted for about two hours on Wednesday morning (Sep 17) after a signal fault.
Commuters said the disruption started as early as 6.15am.
Transport operator SMRT posted an alert on Facebook at about 7.30am, asking commuters to allow for an additional 15 minutes of travel time between Woodlands North and Bayshore stations.
It said at 8.30am that there would be no train services between Woodlands North and Bayshore in both directions "to facilitate train service recovery".
"To reset the system, services were suspended for about 30 minutes," president of SMRT trains Lam Sheau Kai said at 9.05am.
"We apologise for the disruption to your morning journey and thank you for your patience and understanding."
Free regular and bridging bus services were made available, while SMRT urged commuters to take alternative lines to their destination.
In an update about 10 minutes later, SMRT said services were "progressively resuming".
Free regular bus and bridging bus services, which started at 7.55am, have ended, said SMRT.
A commuter said at around 7.20am that he had been on the train since 6.35am, with the train only moving one station.
Another observed a "big crowd" at the TEL platform of Outram Park MRT station, adding that there were conflicting instructions given by staff on whether commuters could board the trains.
Wednesday's incident comes after a disruption to train services between Aljunied and Tanah Merah on the East-West Line on Tuesday night.
At around 11pm, a fault in the uninterruptible power supply system caused a signalling failure, Mr Lam said.
"Our staff were immediately deployed to assist commuters, and engineers were on-site to carry out rectification works," he said then.
SMRT later said at 4.30am that trains on the East-West Line had resumed normal operation.
In July, a signalling fault caused delays on the TEL, with services between Napier and Great World stations coming to a halt for over an hour.
The TEL was hit with three disruptions in a week in December and January. SMRT said that the delays were unrelated.
Operator SMRT was fined S$2.4 million (US$1.9 million) by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for lapses which led to a six-day disruption along the East-West Line in September 2024.
