East-West Line hit by delay due to track point fault at Clementi

SINGAPORE - Commuters on the East-West Line (EWL) faced a 40-minute delay during the peak hour on Wednesday morning (Sept 19) due to a track point fault at Clementi.

Transport operator SMRT said in a tweet at 7.10am that the delay affected train services between Jurong East and Clementi. It initially said that commuters should add about 30 minutes of travelling time to their journey.

In a Facebook post at 8.45am, SMRT said that train services had to be stopped between Clementi and Jurong East MRT stations to allow staff members to go onto the track to check on the track fault, which occurred at about 7am.

[embed]https://twitter.com/SMRT_Singapore/status/1042205410587865088[/embed]

"Train services have progressively resumed. Due to slow train movements, please cater for additional 40 minutes of train travel time. We are sorry your morning commute has been affected," the post added.

SMRT said that free regular bus services and bridging bus services were available between Boon Lay and Queenstown.

At 7.40am, SMRT said that its staff members were rectifying the fault.

It advised those who were travelling to the city to take the North-South Line via Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio and Orchard.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/SMRTCorpSG/posts/2035129786508240[/embed]

About an hour after SMRT first reported about the delay, it said that commuters should now add 40 minutes to their travel time from Boon Lay to Queenstown, up from 30 minutes.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNjUXzOZZ9I[/embed]

Commuters hit by 40-minute delay on East-West Line during peak hour

Many commuters took to social media to share their experience.

Facebook user Aminurashed Ami posted photos of the crowd at Jurong East MRT station at about 7.20am, where long queues had formed at the platform.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2227256727521654[/embed]

He later shared another photo of a packed MRT train.

When The Straits Times arrived at Clementi MRT station at about 9.15am, people were seen waiting in orderly queues at the platform. Most of the commuters were able to board the east-bound train when it arrived.

Ms June Lim, 29, who works part time at a retail store at City Square Mall, said: "I've been stuck in the train for quite long. It took me 45 minutes just to get to Clementi from Boon Lay, when usually it would take just 10 minutes.

"It was so humid that I felt faint and had to come out to sit down for awhile. I'm actually on the way to work at Farrer Park and I'm not late yet because I left home early. But I'll most likely be late at this rate."

She added that she boarded the train at about 8.30am.

[embed]https://twitter.com/brian_teo/status/1042201871388037120[/embed]

On Twitter, user Kendra Teng said that the Jurong East bus interchange was swamped with commuters scrambling to find a bus to their destinations.

Wednesday's incident comes a day after the EWL was hit by a 15-minute delay due to a platform screen door fault.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/mrtsginfo/videos/2180397018897092/[/embed]

SMRT first tweeted about that delay at about 8.30am on Tuesday. Normal train services resumed about an hour later.

The last reported major delay on the EWL was in April, which lasted almost three hours along a westbound stretch of the MRT line.

SMRT attributed that delay to a track fault. Commuters between Jurong East to Joo Koon stations were advised to add 25 minutes to their journey.

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