A train fault along the East West Line on Thursday morning caused a massive delay of more than twenty minutes and build up of commuters who are rushing to school and work.
SMRT announced on its social media platform at 7.46am that there is a track fault at Clementi and asked that commuters add 10 mins to their travelling time.
At 9.26am, SMRT announced that the train fault has been cleared and the service is progressively being returned back to normal.
[EWL]UPDATE:Track fault cleared,trains are progressively returning to normal speed.Pls add 10mins travel time from #JooKoon towards#Clementi
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) January 19, 2017
At 8.01am, it increased the delay to 15 mins and at 8.25am, it further increased the delay to 20 mins.
One commuter, Sheena wrote, “The announcement said 5 minutes delay between Joo Koon to Clementi due to a weekly scheduled train breakdown that only happens at the far west of Singapore. It has been 15 minutes now and I am still at Jurong East. Oh, by the way, 5 trains just passed onwards to Jurong East. It now takes 35 minutes to travel from Lakeside to Clementi. A journey that usually requires 9 minutes.”
Many others state that their traveling time is much more than the stated 20 mins and some have been stuck in the train for 30 mins or more.
Some also question SMRT’s statement about the train service in operation as it has already stated that there is a train fault.
However, as there is no independent body to audit the total length of disruption by the transport company, Ministry of Transportation would likely take SMRT’s word for it. Furthermore, SMRT is now a company wholly owned by Temasek Holdings.
