There was a crowd of commuters queuing at MRT stations along the North-East Line (NEL) after the regular train service stopped due to a power fault on Thursday morning (27 February).
SBS Transit wrote on its Facebook earlier today at 5.49 am that the regular NEL train service is only available between Harbourfront and Buangkok MRT stations due to a power fault, adding that a shuttle train service will be provided between Buangkok and Punggol stations.
In an update at 6.23 am, SBS Transit said that it will provide free regular and bridging bus services at designated stops at affected MRT stations.
Later on at 8.20 am, SBS added: “Due to a power fault, there is only [service] on 1 platform [between] NE15 Buangkok & NE17 Punggol & shuttle trains are running [between] these [stations]. [Please] add extra travel time. Free regular & bridging bus [services] are also available. There is regular [service] [between] NE1 HarbourFront& NE15 Buangkok.”
In it’s most recent update at the time of writing, SBS noted that the train service between Hougang and Punggol will not be available in order to facilitate repair works starting from 10.40 am. It added that free regular and bridging buses will continue to be available at these four stations.
SBS added that the shuttle train service will run between Serangoon and Hougang stations while regular service between HarbourFront and Serangoon stations will run at intervals of 9 minutes.
Netizens irritated at the inefficiency of SBS Transit
Following the announcements of train service not working, many netizens lamented SBS Transit for its inefficiency in handling the problems while some netizens shared photos showing massive crowds forming at affected MRT stations on social media.
Some netizens condemned SBS Transit for giving contradictory and confusing announcements to the public that do not reflect the actual situation on the ground.
A few netizens also pointed out that problems with the train service tend to occur during the peak hours of working and school times.
One of the netizens, Donny Koh, even questioned why a power fault could result in not functioning of train services, wondering why there was no redundancy in place.
Other Twitter users also shared the photos and criticised SBS for the poor maintenance of its services.
It’s not the power’s fault. It’s the fault of the team that looks after the power!
— Error getting name (@a2m8e49k8d3s) February 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/dteo76/status/1232808562138550272
Nothing like a good old power fault. Has been a while 🤟✨#SBStransit #NEL pic.twitter.com/2FJZrke7UD
— アラン🍀🍬 (@alan_risako) February 26, 2020
