North East Line service disruption, passengers either stuck in train or asked to leave train station
A reader has informed TOC that the services for both directions along the North East Line (NEL) is affected due to a train fault.
Although the station announced that the delay will be 15 mins, the reader was stuck in the train cabin for 20 over mins.
He was earlier told to alight the train along with the other passengers. He told TOC that many of the passengers were seen exiting the Woodleigh MRT station.
Another individual on Twitter posted that he is stuck in Buangkok station with the doors closed.
https://twitter.com/majidarou/status/765892371783352321
https://twitter.com/_WengQi_/status/765897514411175937
https://twitter.com/fadedalienx/status/765900220706148353
https://twitter.com/majidarou/status/765893333516365824
https://twitter.com/RachelScodes/status/765902774202662912
https://twitter.com/allJELLY_nojam/status/765902223356276736
https://twitter.com/FNABYLLAH/status/765899484396072960
The NEL is operated by transport operator, SBS Transit Ltd.
No announcement has been made on social media by the train operator. Its mobile app also shows that train services are operating normally.
The reader told TOC, "Funny that they still announcing additional 15 mins travelling time when whole system is down. That's very optimistic"
At 9.26pm, Land Transport Authority announced that there is no train service between Punggol and Serangoon stations due to train fault.
https://twitter.com/LTAsg/status/765902642727882752
Only at 9.30pm, SBS Transit published a post on its twitter stating that there has been a service disruption.
https://twitter.com/SBSTransit_Ltd/status/765903621380681728
At 9.39pm, SBS announced that there is free shuttle buses available.
https://twitter.com/SBSTransit_Ltd/status/765905528195194881
However, the mobile app by 9.50pm still showed that the NEL is running normally.
After refreshing the app, the post writes that it was posted at 9.39pm but the timestamp shows 9.55pm. So which is which?
At 10.50pm, SBS Transit announces that NEL service resumed at 10.49pm.
https://twitter.com/SBSTransit_Ltd/status/765923810327396353
Where has the public announcement criteria gone?
In Exercise Greyhound (2012) carried out jointly by LTA, SBS Transit 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."
TOC had earlier contacted LTA in 2014 to seek their response on SMRT and SBS Transit's failure to make public announcement of train faults. LTA has yet to respond till today.
