Foreign metal object caused train delays: SMRT

[UPDATE 4 Apr, 11am: Adding in statement by SMRT]

A track fault that caused delays between Raffles Place and Marina Bay stations on the North-South Line Wednesday morning was due to the presence of a 2-cm foreign metal object.

In a statement Wednesday evening, transport operator SMRT said the object caused a short circuit that occurred between two track blocks.

The short circuit "activated an automatic safety mechanism which prevented other trains from entering the affected sector as the system indicated that the track towards Marina Bay was occupied," the firm said.

SMRT engineers found the metal object on the insulated rail joint located on the running rail connecting the two track blocks.

The incident led to longer waiting times and crowded platforms on southbound trains heading into the town area Wednesday morning.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing, SMRT said.

In a statement issued by SMRT at around 2.30pm that day, SMRT vice-president for corporate marketing and communications Kalai Natarajan said that the track fault was reported at 7.15am and rectified at 8.22am, after engineers were deployed to handle the situation.

"Announcements were made immediately to all stations and trains to inform passengers about the longer travelling time. To ease congestion, southbound trains from Raffles Place station were diverted to turn around at Outram Park station. These trains resumed northbound service at Raffles Place station towards Jurong East station," Kalai added.

She also said, "SMRT also activated free buses for seven trunk services at 7.51am between Raffles Place and Marina Bay stations. Passengers travelling along the North-South Line would have experienced a longer journey time of up to 20 minutes during this period. Normal train service resumed after the track fault was rectified by SMRT engineers at 8.22am."

At 7.25am, transport operator SMRT tweeted about the track fault and that an additional 10 minutes of estimated travelling time was to be expected.

It tweeted 10 minutes later that service had resumed and longer travelling time was to be expected from Bishan station towards Marina Bay station.

Commuters went to Twitter to voice their frustrations over congested trains. Twitter users @nephiron and @meltwitt12 both reported that commuters had to queue to enter the gantries at Ang Mo Kio station.

Another Twitter user, @bobehzhao, said to Yahoo! Singapore that he experienced trains stopping and moving on the southbound track from Yio Chu Kang station to Raffles Place station.

Commuter Fann Sim said that her journey from Admiralty to Somerset took 10 more minutes than it was typically supposed to. Her train stopped for more than 10 times, intermittently at around 10 seconds each.

Aloysius Low tweeted that he heard the train fault announcement at around 8.15am and that the announcer said the fault was at Marina Bay station.

Veronica Quek tweeted to Yahoo! Singapore that she received an excuse letter from SMRT which stated the delay was at 8.30am, despite SMRT's tweet of the fault an hour earlier.