Thousands affected by train disruption on North-South Line

The Straits Times reported that a faulty train held up the morning commute for thousands of North-South Line passengers yesterday. The stalled train eventually had to be pushed out by another train, which led to delays of about an hour.

"Yesterday's disruption was caused by an air pressure fault that triggered the braking system of a train at Novena," said Mr. Patrick Nathan, SMRT's Vice President for Corporate Information and Communication. As a result, passengers on a train behind it had to alight so it could be used to push the faulty one to Newton station for passengers to alight.

SMRT told passengers to expect an additional 40 minutes of travelling time between Toa Payoh and Newton stations via its Twitter and Facebook pages. It also arranged for free bus services at Toa Payoh, Novena and Newton stations.

Train services resumed at 9:55am. However, trains moved slowly for the next 20 minutes or so as the line was still backed up. Mr. Nathan said free bus services remained available until about 10:45am. He apologised for the inconvenience caused, and said engineers are investigating the cause of the fault.