North East Line hit by power fault: No regular train service between Punggol and Buangkok MRT stations

The Straits Times
February 27, 2020

There is no regular train service between Punggol and Buangkok MRT stations on the North East Line on Thursday morning (Feb 27) due to a power fault.

SBS Transit said in a tweet at about 6am that the regular train service on the NEL is available only between Harbourfront and Buangkok MRT stations.

It said in the tweet that it is providing a shuttle train service on one platform between Punggol and Buangkok MRT stations, but it did not state the service frequency. 

It is also providing free regular and bridging bus services between both stations.

At 10.40am, SBS Transit tweeted that it has stopped the train service between Hougang and Punggol MRT stations to repair the power fault. 

It added that a shuttle train service will replace regular train services between Serangoon and Hougang MRT stations.

Train services between Harbourfront and Serangoon MRT stations will run at nine-minute intervals, it said.

"Please add extra travel time," it tweeted.

Commuter Ms Rosy, 52, a therapist, had set off later for work from Sengkang MRT station at about 10.30, after learning about the delay in the morning. 

“I thought normally the delays will only last for two hours, but now it’s 10.30 and it’s still delayed,” she said.

Mr Chew Zhi Kang, 30, was one of the commuters who were turned away at Buangkok MRT Station after SBS Transit stopped all train services there for repair works. 

“The (service staff) said (the disruption) was only down from Punggol to Buangkok, so I thought it was safe to take from Buangkok," said the engineer.

“It’s a bit shocking, I just missed the bridging bus and I never expected it to last for so long.” 

The service disruption is still ongoing.