4-hour sleep days, didn't see family: Contractor, ground staff and volunteers reflect on MRT disruptions

Within 12 hours of his appointment as the person-in-charge of rail replacement works along the East-West Line (EWL), contractor Steve Hall and his team got straight to work on Friday (Sept 27) morning — the third day of the six-day-long train disruption.

For the next few days, the 63-year-old construction manager at China Railway First Group slept an average of four hours, and didn't see his family for three days.

The British national and Singapore permanent resident had to answer so many text messages and calls that he even brought his phone along with him to the shower.

"The phone never stopped. It just kept going and going, even my power packs were [depleted] as well" he told reporters in an interview on Oct 4. 

On Thursday afternoon, Hall had been tasked by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to oversee restoration works on a stretch of damaged track closer to Dover station.

The biggest challenge, he said, was the hot weather exacerbated by the noise barriers installed along that stretch of track.

"There's no breeze, you're stuck," he said, adding that ongoing welding works also added to the heat.

Works were completed as planned on Saturday. But the 12 new rail cracks found between Clementi station and the crossover to Ulu Pandan Depot later that evening meant that workers had to be mobilised again.

Hall assured the media that the safety and welfare of workers were looked after, with food "coming from all directions", including members of the public.

"I'm glad everything is up and running as it should be. It's been a long weekend for a lot of people, and I think a special thanks should go out to all the other workers and contractors involved."

Volunteering despite working from home

Train services between Queenstown and Boon Lay stations were disrupted on Wednesday morning after a component of a faulty first-generation train's wheel structure came off near Dover MRT station, causing some wheels to drop out of position and leading to over 40 rail breaks and a power trip.

On that day, Noraskin Ibrahim, a staff at LTA's public transport group, was working from home as her child was sitting for the Primary School Leaving Examination written papers the next day.

When the 45-year-old was alerted to the train disruption at about 10am, she immediately volunteered as a ground staff at the Queenstown station bus bridging point, reaching the station at about 11.15am.

"It was a bit chaotic and there was a certain form of frustration, which is totally understandable, but the Public Transport Operators and us are there to address their concerns and queries," she said.

By 11.30am, ground staff had managed to clear the crowd of 100-odd commuters at the bridging point, with more buses progressively arriving.

Noraskin also helped shelter passengers boarding and alighting buses from the pouring rain, which she said made it challenging for staff to ensure the safety of vulnerable commuters such as the elderly and users of mobility devices. 

"Amazingly, there were no commuters that shout or get angry... they [would line up] in single file and wait for the bridging buses to arrive."

Ordinary commuters also stepped up to assist others at some bus bridging points.

One of them was 62-year-old Lim Eng Gek, who volunteered at the Jurong East bridging bus stop on Saturday and Monday.

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Lim remembers a particularly heartwarming moment on Monday, when a woman had shared her umbrella with her, who was in turn sheltering an elderly man with walking difficulties from the rain.

"Most of the commuters were actually very happy. They smiled and thanked you... because they see the smiling faces [of the ground staff] guiding them,” she said.

Rallying colleagues to volunteer

To prioritise repairs for the full restoration of the East-West Line, plans to partially restore train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations on Friday (Sept 27) were dropped.

After seeing the efforts of ground staff at affected stations, Chua Sze Wee, deputy director of operations and business planning at SMRT's Stellar Lifestyle, decided to volunteer every night after getting off work.

From Friday to Monday, he helped relieve ground staff of their duties, allowing them to go for a break and have dinner.

Chua managed the crowd at the concourse area of Buona Vista station, even helping to Google directions to specific locations for lost commuters.

Chua also rallied his colleagues to join him in volunteering: "I remember on one night, many of the senior management [staff] were with me, and the whole concourse was managed by the management.

"It's really everybody, all hands on deck, not just within SMRT, LTA but [also the] public coming together."

Some colleagues who volunteered with him once decided to join him again the next day, he told AsiaOne.

Although he encountered a handful of frustrated commuters, Chua handled it by listening to their complaints, and informing them of the current situation and what's next.

"In general, what really touched me was that no commuter walked away unhappy. When we put forward a smile, we always got a smile back."

Similarly on Friday, Bukit Batok East grassroots leader Anthony Au decided to show the community's support for ground staff after learning that there would still be no train service between Jurong East and Buona Vista over the weekend.

At noon, the 58-year-old reached out to fellow grassroots leaders as well as pre-schools and F&B businesses in the area.

He told AsiaOne that about 50 pieces of artwork and messages drawn by pre-schoolers were collected alongside almost 100 food items in total.

Au and his team of about 15 volunteers visited Bukit Batok, Jurong East and Clementi stations at about 8pm that day to deliver the items.

He added that the staff were visibly delighted to receive the cards and food: "Although our food was not expensive, they were very appreciative.”

Full train services on the EWL resumed on Oct 1, with the six-day disruption affecting over two million commuters.

ALSO READ: East-West Line MRT disruptions: SMRT staff assists autistic child, commuter helps elderly woman

lim.kewei@asiaone.com