Signalling faults cause disruption to North-East Line services

About 35,000 commuters on their way to work just after 8:00am yesterday were hit by a major breakdown on the North-East Line (NEL), reported The Straits Times. It was the fourth incident that lasted more than 30 minutes this year on the 12-year old line. Operator SBS Transit said a signalling glitch at 7:08am affected service between Sengkang and Punggol stations. It was fixed at about 7:20am.

But another developed at 8:09am, hitting morning peak-hour commuters using Punggol, Sengkang, Buangkok and Hougang stations hardest. The disruption lasted more than two hours. When The Straits Times visited Sengkang station at around 10:15am, there was no service on the north-bound track. Trains on the south or city-bound track were running intermittently between Punggol and Buangkok stations, and service was later extended to Hougang.

Mr. George Ow said he left his home at 7:45am and was still figuring out how to get to work in Bukit Batok when he spoke to The Straits Times at 10:30am at Sengkang station. "The queue for the buses is very long," he said.

While SBS estimates that the incident affected 35,000 passengers in Sengkang and Punggol, as well as those transferring from the Sengkang-Punggol LRT, it also hit commuters farther down the line.

Ms.Tan Jun Lin boarded the train at Farrer Park station at about 8:25am to go to work in Outram. The 15 minute journey was almost twice as long. "The train stopped for around five minutes at two or three stations," Ms Tan said. "I'm lucky because I live a few stops away.''

SBS said service resumed at 10:28am - nearly three and a half hours after the first glitch occurred. But at 11:00am at Serangoon station, announcements continued to warn commuters of longer travelling times. SBS said it was an error made by staff on the ground.

Meanwhile, commuters said the bus bridging services deployed by SBS were confusing. Civil servant Sim Soon How, who was going to take the train from Punggol to Sengkang, said he was directed to hop on a free shuttle bus service. It took him on a roundabout trip to Hougang, before going to Buangkok and then to Sengkang. "I wasted my time. If I had taken a normal bus service, 83, from Punggol, I would have reached Sengkang in 10 to 15 minutes," he said.

The 20km NEL accounts for 13 percent of Singapore's total MRT network length, but experienced three out of seven major breakdowns in the first half of this year.

Senior Research Fellow Gillian Koh of the Institute of Policy Studies said that in the light of this election period, the latest incident could be a reminder to some voters of the negative sentiment surrounding the transport system. "But it is not a new issue," she added. "It will not be solved overnight and it has been acknowledged by the PAP Government, Land Transport Authority (LTA) and operators as something they will work hard to address."

Dr. Koh also noted that Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, who had said the frequency of breakdowns was unacceptable, has resigned. This is seen by "some people as the Transport Minister taking the rap for the situation".