East-West Line hit by delay due to track point fault at Clementi

Commuters on the East-West Line (EWL) were facing a 40-minute delay during the peak hour on Wednesday morning (19 September) due to a track point fault at Clementi. Transport operator SMRT said in a tweet at 7:10am that the delay affected train service between Jurong East and Clementi. It initially said that commuters should add about 30 minutes of travelling time to their journey.

In a Facebook post at 8:45am, SMRT said that train services had to be stopped between Clementi and Jurong East MRT stations to allow staff members to go onto the track to check on the track fault, which occurred at about 7:00am. "Train services have progressively resumed. Due to slow train movements, please cater for additional 40 minutes of train travel time. We are sorry your morning commute has been affected," the post added. 

SMRT said that free regular bus service and free bridging bus service were available between Boon Lay and Queenstown. 

At 7:40am, SMRT said that its staff members were rectifying the fault. Those who are travelling to the city are advised to take the North-South Line via Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio and Orchard, SMRT said. About an hour after SMRT first reported about the delay, it said that commuters should now add 40 minutes to their travel time from Boon Lay to Queenstown, up from 30 minutes.

Many commuters took to social media to share their experience. Facebook user Aminurashed Ami posted photos of the crowd at Jurong East MRT station at about 7:20am, where long queues had formed at the platform. He later shared another photo of a packed MRT train. On Twitter, user Kendra Teng said that the Jurong East bus interchange was swamped with commuters scrambling to find a bus to their destinations.