’16 disruptions in 2.5 months is insane’ — S’poreans react to latest train disruptions

SINGAPORE: SMRT issued a warning to commuters at 11:00 pm on Tuesday night (Sep 16), telling them to expect a delay in train services on the East-West Line (EWL) between Aljunied and Tanah Merah, advising them to add 20 minutes to their travel time.

A few minutes later, however, SMRT gave an update, saying that a signalling fault meant an outage of train services that affected six stations in all: Tanah Merah, Bedok, Kembangan, Eunos, Paya Lebar, and Aljunied.

As it commonly does, SMRT provided free regular and bridging bus services.

On Wednesday morning (Sep 17), another signal fault occurred on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), disrupting train services between Woodlands North and Bayshore for two hours. As this happened at a time when people were on their way to work, it affected thousands of commuters.

Commenters on social media are expressing a “here we go again” mentality. Some, however, have recounted how stressful it has been for them.

“It’s a disaster for me. Never experienced this before. Didn’t know how to navigate. The buses were so full, and then, no more free bus ride. Decided to take the red line. I’m still on the train to get to my workplace. A taxi would be about S$40. Started at 6:30 a.m., and it’s 9:44 [a.m.], and I’m still on the train. Could have reached HK if I had taken a flight from Changi! I must work out a plan B. I think the breakdown will happen again for sure,” a Facebook user commented on the SMRT account page on Sep 17.

“I was lost. No clear direction on which bus services go to Caldecott from Woodlands South station. Taxi fares went up to S$62,” wrote another.

Reddit users, meanwhile, are keeping tabs on how many disruptions have occurred recently, though the list below does not include Wednesday’s TEL disruption.

• “1 July 2025: TEL 5-hour disruption
• 3 July 2025: Bukit Panjang LRT 2-hour disruption
• 8 July 2025: NSL 1-hour disruption
• 19 July 2025: Bukit Panjang LRT 2-hour disruption
• 6 August 2025: EWL 5-hour disruption
• 12 August 2025: Sengkang-Punggol LRT 10-hour disruption
• 12 August 2025: NEL 3-hour disruption
• 15 August 2025: Sengkang-Punggol LRT 4-hour disruption
• 28 August 2025: DTL 1-hour disruption
• 1 September 2025: CCL 1-hour disruption
• 2 September 2025: NSL 0.5-hour disruption
• 10 September 2025: TEL Springleaf 0.25-hour disruption
• 10 September 2025: Tanah Merah-Changi Airport 0.25-hour disruption
• 13 September 2025: Punggol LRT 3-hour disruption
• 14 September 2025: NSL 1-hour disruption
• 16 September 2025: EWL ?-hour disruption (Till End of Service),” noted a user on the platform. 

“16 disruptions in 2.5 months is insane,” another commented. /TISG

Read also: Another day, another train disruption, but some in Singapore are keeping score