SINGAPORE: A malfunction in the platform screen doors at Botanic Gardens MRT station resulted in trains bypassing the station and a seven-hour disruption on Wednesday (May 3).
Downtown Line operator SBS Transit said the doors malfunctioned at 5.45am due to a signalling-related fault, and could not open automatically.
“Staff had to manually operate the doors whenever a train arrived at the station and this took some time which caused a delay to train services,” a spokesperson said.
“During normal operations, when a train enters a station, the signalling system will communicate with the train system so that both the platform screen doors and train doors can be automatically opened at the same time for passenger boarding and alighting activities. However, this could not be done this morning at the DT9 Botanic Gardens Station.”
Commuters at Bukit Panjang MRT station after a signalling fault on the Downtown Line on May 3, 2017. (Photo: Alex Wong)
To enable engineers to resolve the problem, the platform was closed for trains heading towards Chinatown, SBS Transit said.
The fault was rectified at 12.54pm and the platform opened for passenger service. Two doors will remain closed for “more in-depth repairs” to be conducted after operational hours tonight.
SBS Transit first reported the signalling fault on its Twitter account at 7.41am. It advised commuters to expect an additional travelling time of 10 minutes.
However, many commuters complained online that the delay was longer than 10 minutes.
In an update at 9.37am, SBS Transit said trains heading towards Chinatown would bypass the Botanic Gardens station. It advised commuters to transfer at Tan Kah Kee or Stevens stations to continue their journey.
