The commuter who first complained about an LRT malfunction on Thursday, 28 July, has questioned SMRT further on their clarification. The commuter, Ms Jacqueline Bong, posting her feedback on SMRT’s Facebook on 28 Jul (Thu) said that the LRT she was on did not stop at the station she wanted to alight, and skipped several other stations. She said that she was on her way to a kindergarten to pick up her children when the incident happened.
She further said that the train she was in was travelling at high speed, scaring commuters on the train. It skipped 3 stations, starting from the Jelapang station, and finally came to a stop near the platform of Phoenix station. But not before dangerously stopping very close behind another train in the station.
Ms Bong added that the emergency button as well as the intercom in the train were not working. She noted that the train only slowed down when another commuter used her mobile phone to call the train operator.
SMRT acknowledged yesterday (1 Aug) that the incident happened at around 11.51am on 28 Jul and that the LRT skipped Jelapang station due to a fault on the train’s antenna that ensures trains stop accurately at each station. This was also why the train was not able to pick up the signal to stop at the next three stations.
The train operator however blustered the complainant’s claims that was travelling at high speed scaring commuters on the train, saying: “We have confirmed that the train did not exceed 55 km.”
SMRT further said: “Ms Bong referred to an emergency button being pressed several times. She was probably referring to the Emergency Halt Request button.”
It further confirmed that the ‘Emergency Halt Request button’, only works when the train comes to a complete stop at a station. This it explained was to prevent the train from moving off again.
Responding to SMRT’s clarification in their Facebook, Ms Bong taking issue with the train operators assertion that “she was probably referring to the Emergency Halt Request button”, posted a picture of the Emergency button she pressed.
Ms Bong said: “This is the Emergency Button that we pressed. Please enlighten us what’s the meaning of “Emergency Next Station Stop.”
Apparently the train’s ‘Emergency Halt Request’ button too malfunctioned on that day. The train skipped 3 stations, starting from the Jelapang station, and finally came to a stop near the platform of Phoenix station.
She further asked: “What is the Emergency Halt Request button that you mentioned? Where is it?”
Ms Bong claimed that she submitted her feedback to SMRT via their website providing them with all her contacts, but that they had not called her to explain the train malfunction.
SMRT only responded when online news sites highlighted the malfunction on 31 Jul (https://theindependent.sg.sg/lrt-failure-scares-commuters).