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.

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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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A coroner’s inquiry into the case of a 73-year-old woman who died after a horse fell on her last year began yesterday with several questions posed to a police investigator which he was unable to answer.

Madam Lim Ah Boey was pinned under a 450kg horse for about 10 minutes at Gallop Stable’s Punggol Ranch last Nov 14.

She had crush injuries and died in hospital shortly after.

The court heard from Staff Sergeant Tan Soon Kwang that Madam Lim had gone to the ranch with her family to celebrate her grandson’s 21st birthday.

At about 5.30pm, she rode a horse for five minutes around a 264m track, led by a handler.

When it was time for her to dismount, however, the horse stopped short of a mounting block – a set of concrete steps. The handler led the horse to circle in front of the steps three times, in an anti-clockwise manner, but it did not go close enough to the steps each time.

On the fourth attempt, event manager Wan Jasma Zuraini Wan Jalani was seen to hit the horse’s rear, and it seemed to get agitated.

Ms Jasma and the handler then tried to get Madam Lim to dismount without using the steps.

But Madam Lim’s granddaughter saw that she was stiff and panicking, and shouted at her not to dismount as it seemed unsafe to do so.

The stable’s staff then decided to walk the horse 20m away to a portable mounting block. But it suddenly reared, standing on its hind legs.

The second time it reared, Madam Lim fell. The horse then lost its balance and fell on top of her. It struggled to get up as it was stuck between the mounting block and a fence. After 10 minutes of failed attempts by the staff to get the horse on its feet, it got up on its own.

Madam Lim had a weak pulse and was still breathing, but her heart stopped beating shortly after. Her grandson, a combat medic, carried out cardio-pulmonary resuscitation while waiting for an ambulance. Madam Lim was pronounced dead at around 7pm.

An instructor later realised that the horse had not eaten , although it was supposed to have been fed between 12.30pm and 2pm. SSgt Tan said the the horse had also been working from 1pm to 6pm.

Madam Lim’s family members sobbed as four clips of the incident – recorded by an unknown person, and posted online – were played.

The family was represented by lawyer Sunil Sudheesan, who asked SSGT Tan if he had seen the portable mounting block which the staff claimed they had wanted to use. He said he had not.

Among other questions he could not answer, the officer did not know the regulatory agency in charge of horses, or if handlers required any licensing. He was also unable to ascertain if the design of the mounting block was safe.

His report concluded there was no foul play involved in Madam Lim’s death but he was unable to define foul play without prompting by the coroner. State Coroner Marvin Bay asked SSGT Tan, who has been a police investigator for 21/2 years, to prepare his answers by the next inquiry hearing, at a later date.

This article was first published on April 26, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Commuters on the North-South Line (NSL) faced rush hour congestion as the south-bound train service was crippled for nearly half an hour early on Tuesday morning, barely 12 hours after train services along three MRT lines and one LRT line suffered a power dip which caused an unprecedented breakdown.

Rail operator SMRT, which runs the NSL, said in a tweet at 6.31am that train services were disrupted between Kranji and Woodlands stations and advised commuters to seek alternative transport.

[NSL]: No train service from #Kranji to #Woodlands towards MarinaBay. Please seek alternative transport.

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) April 25, 2016

In subsequent tweets, it attributed that the disruption to a traction power fault and said that free public and shuttle buses were available between Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands stations.

[NSL] UPDATE: Due to traction power fault, there is no train service from Kranji to Woodlands station towards MarinaBay.

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) April 25, 2016

[NSL]UPDATE: Free public & shuttle buses are now available at affected stations between #ChoaChuKang and #Woodlands station.

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) April 25, 2016

Services were resumed about 18 minutes later at 6.49am, according to SMRT.

[NSL] CLEARED: Train service from #Kranji to #Woodlands towards #MarinaBay has resumed.

— SMRT Corporation (@SMRT_Singapore) April 25, 2016

In a Facebook post at about 9.30am, SMRT apologised for the disruption and said that it is investigating the cause to determine if it is related to Monday (April 25) night’s power fault.

On Monday, more than 20 MRT stations were affected by train service disruptions which affected the NSL, East-West Line, Circle Line and Bukit Panjang LRT.

SMRT explained the disruptions to be due to a “traction power fault” which had been “traced to a power dip at the Buona Vista power intake station”.

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Stomp, The Straits Times, Wesley Sng

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