SINGAPORE: Services on the entire North-South Line resumed at 1.48pm on Saturday, about seven hours after they were disrupted due to a fault with the power rail system.
SMRT said the disruption started near Orchard Station on the North-South Line between Orchard and Marina Bay stations.
One train, with about 500 passengers on board, stalled between Orchard and Somerset stations at about 6.50am.
SMRT said its first priority was to minimise discomfort to passengers.
It got the passengers to walk along the tunnel at 7.20am.
They were safely guided to Somerset station by 7.33am.
Preliminary investigations show that the cause of the disruption is similar to the problem on Thursday.
In the service breakdown on Thursday, a misalignment between the special components - the train track and 'collector shoes' - that trains draw power from, had caused the fault.
Currently, there is a defective train parked at Ang Mo Kio station.
It'll be withdrawn to the depot after service hours on Saturday.
SMRT is working round-the-clock to replace the damaged third rail and collector shoes.
It's also conducting a full inspection of the system and all the trains.
SMRT activated more than 300 staff on the ground to assist passengers and attend to the fault.
To provide alternative transport to passengers, it activated 80 buses at 7.18am for bus bridging services between Ang Mo Kio and Raffles Place, and Marina Bay and City Hall stations.
The first bus arrived at around 7.30am at Newton MRT station and 7.35am at Raffles Place station.
Since 8.40am, SMRT also ran Circle Line train services at an average frequency of three minutes to cater to the influx of passengers affected by the service disruption on the North-South Line.
Announcements in English and Mandarin were made in all stations and trains, via radio stations, Channel News Asia's tickertape, SMRT's corporate website and also on Twitter @smrt_singapore.
Passengers who were unable to complete their journeys due to the disruption can get a refund at the Passenger Service Centre in any of the 81 SMRT stations.
SMRT has apologised for the inconvenience caused.
SMRT also gave a timeline of the train services affected from 6.50am to 1.48pm.
As at 7.55am, no train services were available between Newton and Marina Bay stations in both directions.
As at 8.25am, no southbound train service was available from Toa Payoh to Marina Bay stations.
And as at 8.50am, no train service was available between Ang Mo Kio and Marina Bay stations.
At about 9am, northbound train service from Raffles Place to Jurong East stations became available.
At around 10.55am, southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Newton became available.
As at around 1.18pm, southbound train service from Toa Payoh to Raffles Place became available.
Full service on the North-South Line resumed at 1.48pm, with SMRT gradually improving frequency.
Calls to the Channel NewsAsia hotline on Saturday's service disruption started coming in at about 7am.
One caller, Jeannie said that about 6.50am, she and other passengers who were in a train near City Hall MRT were asked to evacuate the train and had to walk along the tunnel after "the doors got stuck".
Another caller said at 7.21am that when service on the North-South Line towards Marina Bay broke down, an announcement was made about the breakdown but no reason was given.
This is a third service breakdown this week for the train operator.
On Wednesday, parts of the Circle Line were affected by a technical glitch during morning peak hours.
On Thursday, service breakdown on the North-South Line caused commuter chaos during evening peak hours.
Callers told Channel NewsAsia on Saturday that they saw the SMS alert to taxi drivers informing them of the breakdown.
One caller said: "They were more diplomatic; just said FYI: train breakdown both directions ...." one between Marina Bay and Newton."
She was referring to a similar message sent on Thursday night to inform SMRT drivers of the "income opportunity".
The message was posted online by a passenger and went viral instantly, drawing heavy criticisms.
SMRT had admitted that it was a "very bad mistake" to send out an "insensitive" message alert about the train disruption on Thursday night.
The breakdown came a day after SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa apologised for Thursday's glitch which affected 127,000 passengers, including 1,000 trapped in each of the four stalled trains.
It was the worst breakdown in 24 years.
worse ever. and SMRT run only for 24 years history.
No comments:
Post a Comment