Joo Koon MRT station more packed than usual due to suspension of train services

The rush hour crowd at Joo Koon MRT station was more packed than usual as train services between Joo Koon and Tuas Link stations were suspended on Thursday (16^th November). This comes a day after a software glitch in the new signalling system of the East-West Line resulted in a collision between two MRT trains at Joo Koon station on Wednesday morning (15^th November). There are three other stations between Joo Koon and Tuas Link.

Bus bridging services that will run throughout the day were provided for passengers travelling to the affected stations, and SMRT staff were present to help. Generally, the instructions were clear and most commuters said they were able to switch to buses without a hitch. "It's definitely more packed than usual, but to be honest it was worse yesterday morning," said engineer Wang Hai, 38, who was in the train that had hit the stationary one on Wednesday (15^th November).

He usually takes the train to Tuas West Road station. From there, he takes the company shuttle bus to his office in Tuas Link, but on Wednesday had to alight at Joo Koon station as services were suspended so authorities could carry out investigations into the accident. "The company has arranged for us to be picked up from this station instead, so it's not too big an inconvenience," said Mr. Wang. He added, "It is frustrating and embarrassing that this happened to the public transport system, but there's no point being angry."

A 27-year old sales engineer who gave his name as Mr. Goh, said he was late for work as he had only received notifications about the suspended service just before leaving the house at 6:45am. "Now I have to get a cab to work. I usually alight at Gul Circle, which is one stop after Joo Koon," he said. "I know it takes time (to sort out the bugs in the system) but SMRT better step up their game."

Ms. Dorathy Tan, 23, was on her way to take the free bridging services to Tuas Link. She found out about the suspended service from the announcement made at Outram MRT where she started her journey this morning. "I don't think there was any confusion. The instructions were clear. I don't find it a big thing, because bridging services and train breakdowns have become so normal I have become used to it," she said. "But the train collision is definitely something new."