North-South Line (NSL) experienced yet another service disruption this morning, as indicated by many tweets from commuters since 7:00am with no official announcement from the transport operator, SMRT. Many noted that they had to wait up to 10 mins during the peak hour and highlighted that there was overcrowding on the train platforms. However, commuters noted that they were not told that there had been any fault which caused the delay.
10 mins from amk to bishan cos my song is 5mins long and it looped twice. Well done SMRT why must you breakdown everyday pic.twitter.com/JUjqvgCNgM
— 지니 Jeanie (@chanjeanie) December 7, 2017
Cant believe i waited 20mins for nsl train #smrt
— weilun (@ItWasntMeNeo) December 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/kittyowlye/status/938558862952509440
https://twitter.com/fsfantasy/status/938558902559322112
https://twitter.com/HugoChia/status/938561871531012096
@SMRT_Singapore what's happening at Yishun? It's very crowded and the train frequency is low.
— Lex (@Lex37290200) December 7, 2017
@SMRT_Singapore 5 min train frequency in peak hour you are never going to be able to recover.
— Nishant Priyadarshi (@n_priyadarshi) December 7, 2017
@SMRT_Singapore as always causing anguish with their 8min wait during rush hour. Bravo! For turning back the time
— Jan Hawie (@howisjan) December 7, 2017
SMRT had earlier announced at 4:22am and 4:23am that there is no train service between Boon Lay and Gul Circle stations due to a train fault on East West Line (EWL) and subsequently cleared the fault at 5:05am. But there is no announcement of any service disruption of the NSL.
[EWL]: Due to a train fault, there is no train svc btwn #BoonLay and #GulCircle.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) December 6, 2017
[EWL] UPDATE: Free regular bus & free bridging bus svcs btwn #BoonLay and #GulCircle.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) December 6, 2017
[EWL] CLEARED: Train svcs btwn #BoonLay and #GulCircle resumed. Free regular bus & free bridging bus svcs are still available between #BoonLay & #GulCircle.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) December 6, 2017
Despite complaints about the lack of information, SMRT did not make any official announcements on its social media platform, which is required by regulations stated by the Land Transport Authority, leaving commuters confused and irritated.
On Tuesday this week, commuters were left confused as to the actual reason for the delay as the train operator announced to commuters that it was a train fault and then a platform door fault. In this case, according to the reaction by the commuters, there had been no announcement made to commuters at all.
@SMRT_Singapore Signalling fault near Sembawang?
— Asher Bernard Kwok (@abksg) December 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/tohyiqian/status/938561193735622656
https://twitter.com/waeiluen/status/938563221757181952
signal fault on ns line going unannounced again… Wtf @SMRT_Singapore get your shit together pic.twitter.com/voTvsoI8Ba
— (: (@sfafmp) December 7, 2017
A commuter also noted that a train skipped Bukit Batok MRT station this morning.
Wow. @SMRT_Singapore just skipped Bukit Batok MRT Station. Thanks huh.
— Soh Beng Kuan (@sohbengkuan) December 7, 2017