Current Affairs
North-South Line train service disruption on 21 July


Crowd at Ang Mo Kio MRT station (Photo – Jacky Lee)
Yet another train service disruption along the North South MRT Line this morning.
Commuters have noted on social media that the cause of the delay is said to be a train fault, likely to be announced by the station.
It is unknown what time the service disruption took place and end. But social media suggest that the timing to be around 7.40 am to 9 am.
One commenter uploaded a photo, showing the crowd gathering at the foot of a stairway because the only upwards escalator for Jurong East MRT brokedown.
In Exercise Greyhound (2012) carried out jointly by LTA, SBST and SMRT, social media was identified as one of the evaluation criteria for public communication during service disruptions:
“LTA, as the exercise coordinator, assessed SMRT and SBST’s arrangement for free travel on existing public bus services, and the operation of bus shuttle services to provide transport service between the affected MRT stations. They were also tested on public communications, which included promptly informing the public of a service disruption and providing regular updates at the stations and through the media and social media channels such as twitter until normal service is resumed.”
However, there is no mention of the train delay on SMRT’s facebook account nor its twitter account.
The below are the accounts by commuters who were affected by the service disruption.
train fault again
— justjeff (@supjeffrey_) July 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/zxyxox/status/623277417214283776
https://twitter.com/ZoticLiquid/status/623277471710838784
https://twitter.com/turnizam07/status/623277652556673025
https://twitter.com/venieeeee/status/623278834972921856
@fxrhxnnx train fault
— Toh Jin Xing (@tohjinxing) July 21, 2015
New from #SMRT: "Due to heavy passenger activity at the next station, this train will be delayed" I.e. it's crowded so let it get worse
— Bucky Hussain (@buckyhussain) July 21, 2015
Fuck SMRT la,say thank for travelling with SMRT… Please la is no choice then take one,who want take train that always delay or breakdown
— ItsAnIndianThing (@Jaydenmani) July 20, 2015
Annoying? At 8am in the morning . A do not board train at JE to PR. Buck up your brains smrt and stop asking us to pay so much for such svc
— 🖤 (@PINGGVAELE) July 21, 2015
New from #SMRT: "Due to heavy passenger activity at the next station, this train will be delayed" I.e. it's crowded so let it get worse
— Bucky Hussain (@buckyhussain) July 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/bigkev1981/status/623286615952093184
#smrt traim delay zz…
— விஜய் குமார் (@_v_j_k_r_) July 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/dnshrstno/status/623288051851116545
Some mentioned the speed of the train
https://twitter.com/CinnnamonTwist/status/623295906088009728
https://twitter.com/ewina_chua/status/623295473332256768
MRT NS line 8,25am driver made announcement in a foreign language followed by a suddenly halt causing everyone to stumble #smrt
— Teri See (@TeriSee) July 21, 2015
Some have taken to the SMRT facebook to make note of the train service disruption.

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