Early closure of Changi Airport MRT station goes off largely without a hitch

SINGAPORE: At around 11.10pm on Friday (Jan 5), it all began with the familiar announcement chime.

Then, a message: “Attention please. There is no more train service. We are closing the station. Good night.”

With that, the second round of MRT closures – this time on the eastern sector of the East-West Line – kicked off.

Commuters strolling towards the station stopped and looked around. But there were no loud groans, only quick sighs. Nobody seemed irritated that the trains were shutting shop earlier than usual.

Their composure mirrored that of the 10 or so SMRT staff deployed at the Terminal 3 entrance to the station. These men and women, some donning luminous lime green vests, seemed prepared for a thousand queries.

After all, about an hour earlier, dozens of them were briefed about their duties by a man who spoke in a booming voice. He had made clear the timings and pick-up location of the supporting shuttle services.

Commuters caught up by the closure started murmuring at large signs, placed smack in the middle of the space, directing them up an escalator to the departure hall for the shuttles.

But the first signs of uncertainty soon appeared.

A man strode confidently to the platform, only to be stopped in his tracks. No more trains, he was told. Startled, he made a U-turn back up the escalator. I hopped on behind him.

The man, who said he works at the airport, told me he had no idea the trains were closing early. He was heading to Toa Payoh, so he’d take one of the shuttles out first. Nevertheless, he said he expected it to be a smooth journey.

I caught up with another woman who was also going up the escalator. She, too, said she works at the airport. The difference is she knew of the early closure.

“So far, the guiding and signs have been quite okay,” said the woman, who was making her way to the shuttles from Terminal 2.

Putting myself in the shoes of a tourist arriving at Terminal 2, I made my way to the arrival hall there. Inside the baggage claim area, a TV sign clearly stated: “Last train to city has departed.”

Outside the baggage claim area, however, there were no signs for the shuttles. Assuming I wanted to take the train to the city, I would have followed permanent signs to the station anyway.

At the Terminal 2 entrance to the station, I was greeted by more shuttle signs and staff in vests. I didn’t see many tourists going to take the shuttles, though.

MINOR BLIPS, BUT ALL GOOD

Back at Terminal 3, I reached Gate 8 of the departure hall, where staff had formed two neat, snaking queues with red tape and black poles. One line was for Shuttle 8, the other was for Express 12.

Both lines were never fully utilised as take-up was slow. Still, marshals were diligent in ushering commuters to either queue. Shuttle 8 passengers waited outside under a shelter.

Outside, auxiliary officers used traffic cones to demarcate a roughly 50m stretch for shuttles to pick and drop commuters. One officer used a light stick and whistle to attract the buses and ward off other vehicles.

The shuttles arrived on time, as there seemed to be at least one bus at any one moment. Shuttle 8 came in off-peak intervals quicker than the advertised five minutes, while the lower frequency Express 12 was punctual too.

However, there were some hiccups.

First, a couple of buses seemed to go beyond the drop-off point, alighting commuters beside the blocked-off boarding area. This meant they had to walk along the side of the road before entering the terminal through a small door beside Gate 8.

“Why you never stop the bus here?” one official asked another. “I thought you said push in front?” was the reply.

A few minutes later, three bunched up Shuttle 8 buses seemed to stop too early, missing the drop-off point by a good 100m or so. The lone auxiliary officer whistled and waved frantically, finally attracting the attention of the drivers who duly pushed forward.

Still, these incidents were the exception rather than the norm, as commuters boarded and alighted at the correct points for the most part.

One of them, undergraduate Zhang Pin Zheng, looked pleased as he alighted from a Shuttle 8 bus.

“It’s quite fast,” said the 23-year-old, who was going to pick up his girlfriend who had just returned from a holiday. “I stay in Choa Chu Kang and took two hours to travel (here) – which is about the same as if I took the train.”

Mr Zhang, who took the Downtown Line to Expo station before continuing to the airport on Shuttle 8, said the directions at Expo were clear. “There was signage that tells you to go to the shuttle and staff marshalling you all the way,” he added. “It was quite smooth.”

THE SHUTTLE EXPERIENCE

Past midnight, the already short queues wound down. The staff in vests stood idle; one started looking at her phone. It was time for me to take Shuttle 8 to Tanah Merah station.

At 12.16am sharp I jogged past marshals waving me on. This is the last bus, they chirped. I nodded – everything was on schedule. Men holding clipboards pencilled in the data.

Shuttle 8 was a standard single-decker bus. Mine was empty save for a couple who sat near the back. They had just sent off a friend and were heading back to Serangoon.

One of them, who only wanted to be known as Mr Tan, said he knew about the shuttles but not where they were leaving from, until he saw the signs.

“We were about to go down (the escalator) when we saw a lot of people,” the 23-year-old undergraduate said. “I think there should be more signs because people can easily miss them.”

I walked to the front and spoke to the driver, who told me that he was on his second Airport to Tanah Merah trip. He’ll be doing the morning rounds later too, when the trains start later. But before that, he has to pick up the bus from a depot in Jurong at 4am.

Won’t you be tired? I ask. He shrugged it off and laughed.

The bus stopped at Expo, but nobody boarded. Instead, a few SMRT staff poked their heads in. Mr Tan and his companion asked if they had reached Tanah Merah. “Where are we ah?” one of them quipped.

We did arrive at Tanah Merah after a perfectly comfortable ride. Shuttle 8 dropped commuters off at the same stop where Shuttle 7 would take them onwards to Aljunied. More SMRT staff were on hand for guidance.

Despite that, it was a slightly different scene at Tanah Merah.

There was also a different breed of SMRT workers there – those dressed in crumpled T-shirts and baggy work pants. They rolled heavy equipment towards the station, ready to toil through the night to renew and maintain our rail lines.

Then, the purpose of these closures could not have been any clearer to me.

At 12.54am, the last westbound Shuttle 7 service pulled away from Tanah Merah, later than scheduled. The SMRT staff packed up and said their goodbyes.

With shuttle services to support the late opening set to begin just a few hours later, they’ll have an early start.