Monday morning blues: Train fault on MRT Circle Line causes delay for commuters

SINGAPORE — Normal service on the Circle Line (CCL) has resumed after commuters were met with delays following a train disruption during their travel on April 29.

The announcement was made by transport operator SMRT in a Facebook post at 8.11am and it added that free bus and bridging bus services ceased at 8.15am.

SMRT had first announced the disruption, caused by a train fault, at 6.09am on Facebook. It said trains between Holland Village and Pasir Panjang had been affected and advised commuters to add up to 30 minutes of travel time.

At 6.28am, SMRT said that trains between Bishan and One-North were affected by a train fault. Free regular bus services were available between Bishan and HarbourFront.

Later at 6.50am, SMRT said that trains between Paya Lebar and One-North were affected by a train fault and advised commuters to seek alternative MRT lines at Serangoon, Bishan, Caldecott, Botanical Garden and Buona Vista.

In an update at 7am, SMRT advised commuters to add up to 30 minutes of travel time between Paya Lebar and HarbourFront stations.

"Our engineers and staff are doing their best to resolve the issue... We are sorry for affecting your morning commute," it added.

At 7.40am, SMRT updated that the train fault has cleared and that service was progressively returning to normal.

Morning commuters had earlier taken to social media to warn others about the train fault.

"I came out at 4.30am and can't manage to go to my work place due to the CCL fault. It was only at 6.35am that I managed to board the train to reach Farrer Park MRT. But we were asked to leave the train and have to wait again," said Facebook user Peen Alvin.

Another Facebook user, Darron Goh, wrote at 7.03am: "Due to the train delay at CCL, there was a crazy queue when I was at Caldecott MRT five minutes ago... I'm thankful for the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL)."

The CCL was the least reliable among five MRT lines here in 2023, based on the latest rail reliability statistics released by LTA in March.

The CCL managed 1.21 million train-km. This means the line had a fault resulting in a delay exceeding five minutes for every 1.21 million km travelled. This was a performance decline from 1.84 million train-km in 2022.

ALSO READ: Slower train services on Circle Line due to track fault: SMRT

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.