For Mr Peter Teo, a typical 20- minute train ride from Tai Seng to Botanic Gardens stretched to an hour last night after multiple MRT lines were hit by a power fault .
The 32-year-old, who works in a bank, said he boarded the train at 8.05pm.
“The doors were open and passengers kept boarding the train. Some left after they realised there was a delay,” he said.
He reached Botanic Gardens only at 9.09pm.
A power dip at a power intake station in Buona Vista had caused a trip at about 7.53pm that shut down stretches of the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), the Circle Line (CCL), and the Bukit Panjang LRT.
Operator SMRT said all affected stations were without power, apart from emergency lighting.
Housewife Huang Cui Si, 51, was stuck in the train between Jurong East and Bukit Batok for 30 minutes.
Stomp, The Straits Times, Wesley Sng
She said the train travelled slowly after leaving Jurong East before stopping, and an announcement about the disruption was made five minutes later.
Some lights in the train went off but the air-conditioning was still on, she said.
“Nobody really reacted and everyone just waited it out. I’m not surprised that there’s another breakdown; they occur so frequently now,” she added.
SMRT initially tweeted that there was no service between Joo Koon and Bugis on the East-West Line, and from Woodlands to Jurong East on the North-South Line.
The CCL was down from Caldecott to HarbourFront.
The stretch from Buona Vista to Bugis was down for a shorter period, but it is unclear for exactly how long.
SMRT said services from Joo Koon to Buona Vista and Jurong East to Kranji on the NSEWL resumed at 8.23pm.
It told commuters to expect congestion at some stations, as trains were running more slowly.
The CCL and LRT line were down for about an hour and two hours respectively.
Bank executive Amanda Lee, 27, said she was going to Tampines from Raffles Place but got stuck at Paya Lebar for 30 minutes.
Housewife Sarada Appi Narayanan, 66, said SMRT staff at Tampines station initially would not let her into the train heading towards Jurong.
“A lot of people were stuck outside the station. After 10 minutes, I managed to get in,” she said.
A library employee who wanted to be known only as Ms Ana said she found out the LRT was down only when she got off the train at Choa Chu Kang station and was informed by SMRT staff.
There were no announcements on the train, she said.
The 40-year-old added: “I’m only a bit surprised because it happens so often. I’m upset because I’m tired and my journey home has been disrupted.”
This article was first published on April 26, 2016.
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