Train delay between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris MRT stations on first day of PSLE

Commuters' journeys were disrupted this morning (Sep 28) due to a track point fault on the East-West Line between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris MRT Stations that lasted about three hours.

Among those affected were Primary 6 students sitting for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Today is the first day of the national exam.

Stomper Sharon was at Pasir Ris when she saw engineers on the train track.

SMRT started tweeting out updates at 5.53am, advising commuters to expect a 30-minute delay in travelling time between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris.

It added that the fault was not linked to a new signalling project.

At 6.15am, it said that train services had resumed and that commuters should add 20 minutes travelling time between Tampines and Pasir Ris stations.

At 6.39am, it updated that the delay would be 30 minutes.

The updates continued up to 8.04am as the expected delay times fluctuated from 20 to 10 minutes.

At 8.37am, SMRT announced that train services between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris had resumed and that free regular bus and free bridging bus services had ended.

Stomper Veera expressed concern for the students sitting for their exams:

"Unnecessary stress on PSLE kids who are already stressed," she said.

The Ministry of Education said in a Facebook post at 7.19am today that the full paper duration will be given to students affected by train delays and that no excuse letter is needed.

It wrote:

"National exam candidates who are affected by train service delay between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris stations are advised to inform their school as soon as possible and go to their exam centre before the end of the paper to sit for the exams.

"Full paper duration would be given. No excuse letter from the train station is required.

"For more information, pls refer to SEAB’s website (http://bit.ly/25psmrL)."