Train service disrupted on North-South Line for over 3 hours in morning: 'I was very confused'

Train service on the North-South Line was disrupted by a track fault near Yishun station on Wednesday morning (Oct 19).

SMRT first tweeted about a disruption on the North-South Line at 5.46am.

[NSL]: Due to a track fault, pls add 15mins train travel time btwn #AngMoKio and #Woodlands.: Free regular bus & free bridging bus svcs btwn #AngMoKio and #Woodlands.

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) October 18, 2022

By 7.45am, the train operator said that service was returning to normal.

[NSL]: Train svc from #YioChuKang to #Canberra is progressively returning to normal. Free regular bus & free bus bridging svcs still available btwn #AngMoKio & #Woodlands

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) October 18, 2022

In a Facebook update at 10.17am, SMRT said: "At about 4.30am during engineering hours, a faulty engineering maintenance vehicle could not move from the northbound platform near Yishun station on the North-South Line. Our engineers were deployed on site to recover service...

"At about 6.40am, northbound train service was stopped from Yio Chu Kang to Canberra stations for the engineers to access the faulty engineering maintenance vehicle. We assessed that it would be withdrawn to the depot."

Photos of the incident at Yishun were posted on Twitter.

This is why there is no train service between Yio Chu Kang and Canberra, due to a faulty track near Yishun sidings.

Normal services on the Southbound sector. pic.twitter.com/BQ8gNMguO0

— MRT Singapore Service Information (@mrtsginfo) October 18, 2022

The disruption affected many commuters.

Sharing photos of Choa Chu Kang station, Stomper Zen said: "Upon arriving at the station at 7:50am, I looked at the time board and was wondering how come the train timing was so long. Once I reached the platform, there was a massive crowd waiting for the next train. Everyone was gonna be late for work."

Stomper Chee Kiang shared a video of people waiting to take the bridging bus outside Yio Chu Kang station at around 7.15am

There was some confusion among commuters.

Train delay What's worse? Staff who have no idea how to advice where to go and confuse everyone.

— Bhavana (@S_B_havana) October 18, 2022

One commuter told Stomp that when she walked to Yew Tee station at around 8.15am, it was "totally full".

She recounted: "The time board said next train would be two minutes and the next next train was 'do not board'.

"But when the actual next train came, the board suddenly became 'do not board'. I was very confused. The train was like almost totally empty, but there were a few people inside.

"Then after like three minutes, the train doors opened. So I got in."

In its Facebook post, SMRT said: "We are sorry to have affected your early morning commute."

Last week, the Public Transport Council announced a rise in public transport fares from Dec 26.