A massive train disruption took place this morning along the East West Line (EWL) due to a track point fault at Clementi, which started at about 7am and ended around 1.50pm in the afternoon. The disruption and confusion of free shuttle buses left passengers confused and angry, who then posted a barrage of posts and tweets on the social media platforms to voice their displease and to highlight the chaos ensued from the breakdown.
On TATA SMRT Facebook platform posts from commuters stuck at Queens Town and Jurong East have started since about 7am:
Renfred Wang wrote at 7:07am: “SMRT no announcement on EWL delay. Stuck at Queens Town towards Tuas for 10 mins now.”
CoLieen Lim posted a photo at 7:14am: “Situation at Jurong East station. 7:15am.”
WB LM wrote at 7:15am: “[EWL]: Due to a track point fault at Clementi, train service between Jurong East and Clementi will be delayed for 30mins. Free regular bus service is available between JurongEast and Queenstown.”
John Robert Lee wrote that the announcement warns train service between JE and Clementi would be delayed for 30 minutes:
John Robert Lee shared a post from MRT Singapore Service Information at 7:22am; he wrote: “Yesterday, you have PSD Failure at JE because of pax try to force open the faulty PSD. Today, you have track point failure between JE and Clementi. Don’t know what’s going on but… Service between JE and Clementi will be Delayed for 30 mins and free bus services operations are available between Boon Lay And Queenstown. Do seek alternative transport if you can!”
And other passengers also posted other information on the Facebook page:
Briggs Cudal wrote at 7:24am: “Green line train Pasir Ris until Queens Town only.”
Swee Thian Sim wrote at 7:43am: “No train service on East West line.”
Nur Azlinawaty said the additional travel time needed was not 30 minutes but 45 minutes for the passengers from both the Western and Eastern regions:
Nur Azlinawaty Abdul Rahman wrote at 8:09am: “Passengers on E-W Line should add 45 mins to their travel, not the supposed 30 mins. This applies not just for those in the West. The Easterners too.”
On the Twitter platform commuters also shared information and their disappointment over the train service disruption:
https://twitter.com/fv4rishh/status/1042188757640728576
SMRT showing its true colours again oh noOOoOoOOoO ???♀️
— bhu (@bhuvyxo) September 18, 2018
At 7:10am and 7:14am SMRT tweeted its official announcements about the EWL train delay that would be for 30 minutes, free regular bus services were said to be available:
[EWL]: Due to a track point fault at #Clementi, train service btwn #JurongEast and #Clementi will be delayed for 30mins. Free regular bus service is available between #JurongEast and #Queenstown.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 18, 2018
[EWL] UPDATE: Due to a track point fault at #Clementi, train service btwn #JurongEast and #Clementi will be delayed for 30mins. Free regular bus service is available between #BoonLay and #Queenstown.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 18, 2018
But at 7:21am minerva tweeted that the trains at Tampines have been jammed for almost 30 minutes:
@SMRT_Singapore any updates on how the trains at tampines mrt have been jammed for almost half an hour
— minerva (@minerva90803491) September 18, 2018
Other commuters continued to ask questions and voice their complaints about the delay on Twitter:
What about the power failure at Jurong East towards Joo Koon?
— Wen Kai (@Wen_Kai_) September 18, 2018
Hello. I’m stuck in outram Park for 17min. Any bus?
— TIngFeng (@oink1010) September 18, 2018
Should be providing bus services to all the east-west bound stations. Everyone is stuck at the platform waiting.
— eskimo pie (@taesumism) September 18, 2018
@SMRT_Singapore the fault is affected the whole east west line. you should make proper informative announcement
— Poet | Artist ♡ 김종현 (@_srnsj) September 18, 2018
and now the train going towards pasir ris also not moving?? i can’t even travel to a station to change to another line for travel?? wat is this???? i’m only at simei station ok..
— Min Ning (@MN3027) September 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/agentm98/status/1042192923196964864
While SMRT kept tweeting announcement to update the passengers but the problems seemed to have gone from bad to worse, from 30 minutes of additional travel time at 8:15am to 40 minutes:
[EWL] UPDATE: Due to a track point fault at #Clementi, train service btwn #JurongEast and #Clementi will be delayed for 30mins. Free regular bus service and free bridging bus service are available between #BoonLay and #Queenstown.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 18, 2018
[EWL] UPDATE: Our staff is rectifying the fault, train service on the EWL is available. However, please add 30 mins travelling time btwn #BoonLay and #Queenstown. Free regular bus and bridging bus svc are available btwn #BoonLay and #Queenstown.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 18, 2018
[EWL] UPDATE: Our staff is rectifying the fault, train service on the EWL is available. However, please add 40 mins travelling time between #BoonLay and #Queenstown. Free regular bus and bridging bus svc are available between #BoonLay and #Queenstown.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 19, 2018
Passengers were confused and complained about the free bus services; some said that the ‘free’ bus service was a lie:
The jurong east bus interchange is swamped w. commuters scrambling to find a bus to their destination. What do you mean by "free regular bus"? Either there r insufficient signages @ jurong east mrt or the "free regular bus" r the curr bus service which will now offer free rides?
— Kendra Teng (@shula25K) September 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/sarahdonov/status/1042200161110224896
https://twitter.com/GraceTa04141272/status/1042201132209061888
An usher trying to get people to squeeze into a bus at Jurong East. Bus operators also on full-steam-ahead mode. Jiayou @SMRT_Singapore pic.twitter.com/3JxCUPFKym
— Thrina (@prancingthrough) September 19, 2018
Where’s the shuttle bus at Buona Vista? There’s a pretty Long queue and we’ve been waiting for an hour.
— T R I C I A? (@_gloomyybear_) September 19, 2018
Absolute bullshit. There’s no bridging bus service here in Pioneer. Smrt staff just told me to take feeder bus to Boon lay. ??
— Fii フィラ (@harryadammitch) September 19, 2018
Q for shuttle bus is also very long. #smrt #ewldown pic.twitter.com/Dx5hdjnKD3
— P.Ti (@petikool) September 19, 2018
Free buses are a lie. We are still required to tap our cards and fare is still deducted. What sorcery is this?
— Jaslyn Koh (@Jaslynzxc) September 19, 2018
@LTAsg Not 1st time this happened. Still no proper guide to direct ppl to buses and no clear and true updates. Following @PAPSingapore footsteps in lying? What's the use of that media director or sumting?!
— Adam Satria Premanon (@MasterPremanon) September 19, 2018
Syazana Lopez gave a solution to get the free bus service:
Guys, any normal buses that stop along affected stations NO NEED TO TAP CARD! Just board! Driver scold you just show them the tweet. They cannot read their problem.
— Syazana Lopez (@TheBlazerGirl) September 19, 2018
There were also confusions caused by the announcements and notifications given by the SMRT about the locations and delay times:
I would appreciate if the notifications can be clearer. There is no mention that no train from Pasir Ris. If this is communicated earlier, I would not waste the time travelling to and fro.
— Choo Mei (@choomei_ong) September 18, 2018
Can you explain why the fuck trains in the east of the bloody island were also affected? The reason given was that “the train is still at the next station”. #smrtfailsyetagain
— Daniel Anthony (@kh2ouija) September 18, 2018
Knn… It's not 30 mins in the West. It's all the way to the East lah. Use your blains, the EWL track can split? If not, where all the train going there get stuck? #smrt_singapore #scumbagsmrt
— Breaking Down Since 2011 (@DamnSMRT) September 19, 2018
I think you need to be clearer than that. The train services on the east side is effectively down due to the congestion anyway. I've been stuck in the train in the east for 30 mins due to the track fault.
— bowN (@ElKiewAKAbowNz) September 19, 2018
SHAME ON YOU @SMRT_Singapore Pls report the actual facts!! Its more than an hour delay!! @LTAsg should heavily fine @SMRT_Singapore for this delay’
— Canvas of Tweets (@canvasoftweets) September 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/ShirLs_B/status/1042228692586397696
not just between those stations. my friend was on the train at EW1 pasir ris and it didn’t move from 7.10-7.45am at all. she came late to school
— e. ⍟ ⎊ ⧗ | sᴀᴡ ʙᴛs 19/1 (@justgloww) September 19, 2018
And there were also many tweets from commuters asking whether they could ask for refund:
Tapped in to clementi mrt. Kena chased out because of train fault. Tapped out and $0.77 deducted. Hi @SMRT_Singapore, any chance of refund?
— விக்னேஷ் (@DeludedVigz) September 18, 2018
Sure there is a refund. You can go to their website transitlink under the claims.. can write in. They will waive off. Ever kenna before and claim back
— TL (@Foodie_TL) September 18, 2018
Went to control station and refunded $0.75. So they keep the rest.
— Phyllis (@hammiedevil) September 18, 2018
Other passengers posted photos and information of the long delay:
At 7.56am, platform atb#JurongEast is very packed, and there are long queues of students getting the #SMRT slip pic.twitter.com/plGTsDm8To
— Chace Foo (@ChaceMao) September 18, 2018
Scene at Jurong East MRT Station after SMRT announced an additional 30 mins travelling time between Clementi and Jurong East. @STcom @TODAYonline @zaobaosg @ST_LifeTweets pic.twitter.com/QVEGN5r4r6
— Brian (@brian_teo) September 19, 2018
Julia wrote that train doors closed while there were still spaces on the train and it left the Clementi Station before people could board :
Crowd is waiting at Clementi station to board the train & train door closes automatically while there’s space for ppl for boarding. So train left the station without letting ppl to board.
— Julia (@LaiKhaing) September 19, 2018
The day almost reached 11 am already but the train disruptions were still not cleared:
So what is the new SMRT CEO saying now about not taking the car to work? https://t.co/tZBLEvv5EA
— Zulkarnain Sadali (@mdzulkar9) September 19, 2018
@SMRT_Singapore please get your shit together. You have ONE job. ONE.
— l o v e, T. (@LOVETTEMZAKI) September 19, 2018
smrt hit its personal best…walking speed mrt!!!!!! ????
— bat (@batkdz) September 19, 2018
Yes smrt. You the best ? keep stopping like that, I’ll reach work tmrw morning ??
— ? Riri (@Wazzyx07) September 19, 2018
It was only till 1.50pm that the train services have been said to be resumed back to normal operations.
[EWL] CLEARED: Train services have resumed. Free regular & bridging bus services have ended.
— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) September 19, 2018
