SINGAPORE: Commuters faced a frustrating start to their Wednesday as train services on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) ground to a halt for nearly two hours due to a signal fault.

The disruption kicked off around 6:15 am, leaving many passengers scrambling for solutions. SMRT, the transport operator, posted a cautionary note on Facebook by 7:30 am, notifying commuters to anticipate an additional 15-minute delay between Woodlands North and Bayshore stations.

By 8:30 am, the situation had worsened, with SMRT announcing a complete suspension of train services between Woodlands North and Bayshore in both directions "to facilitate train service recovery."

"To reset the system, services were suspended for approximately 30 minutes," shared Lam Sheau Kai, president of SMRT trains, during an update at 9:05 am. "We sincerely apologize for the disruption and thank you for your patience and understanding."

In response to the chaos, SMRT activated free regular and bridging bus services to help mitigate the inconvenience, urging commuters to consider alternative transportation options.

Just ten minutes later, SMRT provided slightly more hopeful news: services were "progressively resuming." However, the free bus services, which started operating at 7:55 am, came to an end shortly thereafter.

This incident followed another disruption just the night before, where train services along the East-West Line between Aljunied and Tanah Merah were interrupted due to a fault in the uninterruptible power supply system.

"Our quick-response teams were deployed to assist commuters, and engineers immediately started rectification efforts," noted Mr. Lam.

Fortunately, by 4:30 am, normal operations on the East-West Line resumed. This isn't the first time TEL has faced issues; a similar signalling fault in July halted services between Napier and Great World stations for over an hour.

To add to the woes, the TEL faced three disruptions within just a week back in December and January, although SMRT maintained that those delays were unrelated.

Adding to the scrutiny, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) hit SMRT with a hefty S$2.4 million (US$1.9 million) fine due to lapses that led to a significant six-day disruption on the East-West Line in September 2024. As these incidents accumulate, the reliability of Singapore's rail services is increasingly under the microscope.