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SMRT: Hoax calls spread Monday evening false alarms

(UPDATED 12:01am)

SMRT says that apart from a nine-minute delay at Orchard MRT stations, there were no other major disruptions or long delays on the North-South East-West lines during Monday evening's rush hour traffic.

It said in a statement that hoax calls were to blame for spreading false alarms about lengthy delays and train disruptions along the rail network.

"There were no long delays, disruptions or major issues on our the North-South East-West lines this evening," the statement read.

"These are hoax calls which the police have also received," added an SMRT spokesperson.

It explained that there was a nine-minute delay on the northbound train service at Orchard MRT Station at 6:46pm because a train was pulled out of service due to a signal fault. Normal service resumed at 6:55pm.

SMRT tweeted at 8:07pm that "train service is still running smoothly, despite a nine-minute delay at Orchard northbound at 1846."

However, the train operator's claims that all was well contradicts several eyewitness accounts.

23-year-old Tay Shwu Yun said she was one of the commuters travelling towards Woodlands on the North-South Line and was affected by evening train delays. 

Tay told Yahoo! Singapore, "The train stopped at least two times. It stopped at Braddell for at least 10 minutes and again in between Bishan and Ang Mo Kio for around five minutes."

Benedict Choong also wrote on Yahoo Singapore's Facebook wall that he took over an hour to travel from Dhoby Ghaut to Woodlands.

Another affected commuter Shirin Masord also reported that his train ride from Paya Lebar to Pasir Ris took almost an hour, when the usual ride is less than 30 minutes.

Several other tweets on micro-blogging platform also reported that train service along East-West line was slow and patchy with reported delays near Bedok and Tanah Merah.

Twitter user @elizatan tweeted at 7:52pm, "Trains are pausing and shaking angrily. Very, very scared. You can see the fear on everyone's faces."

Another user @kennethyapper tweeted at 7:50pm that a train heading towards Jurong East had partially faulty lights and airconditioning.

Channel NewsAsia also reported that one of its new hotline callers, Madam Khoo, reported that her sister was stuck in the train for half an hour between Braddell and Bishan MRT stations.

Earlier in the day, southbound trains were slow and stalled at times, which SMRT said was due to the heavy rain on Monday morning.

Commuters reported that between 9:45 and about 10:45am trains all along the North-South Line experienced delays by between three and 10 minutes, with the first reported stalling believed to have occurred at about 9:45am.

23-year-old Jamuna Sundaraj was on her way to work in Raffles Place when the train she was on stalled for about 10 minutes between City Hall and Raffles Place stations.

“The driver said the train will be here for a few moments and the usual,” said the account executive. “I knew it wouldn’t be as bad as the situation last Thursday — or I was hoping — but the train only moved after about 10 minutes or so.”

An SMRT spokesperson told Yahoo! Singapore that the stalling for above-ground stations such as Ang Mo Kio may have been caused by the rainy weather on Monday morning.

“Trains have to drive slower for safety reasons (due to the rain). This may have caused the delays for the above-ground parts of the line,” the spokesperson said, explaining that trains on the underground parts of the line had consequently stalled as well.

Passengers on trains that were affected by the stalling were seen shaking their heads, heading back to their seats if they stood up to alight and making calls to inform their workplaces that they were held up.

“I’m not going to expect everything to be smooth-sailing and foolproof, and I understand (SMRT is) trying to do their best to find a solution to make the whole situation better, but on mornings like this when you’re rushing to work, the inconvenience is still frustrating,” said Jamuna.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Sunday that trains on the North-South and East-West lines may suffer delays and slower travelling speeds after finding instances of dislodged "claws" at sections of tunnels in the city area.

As it continues investigations, the LTA instructed SMRT to monitor the train tracks, imposing a speed limit of 40km/h at affected areas where floating slab tracks have been installed.

SMRT has urged the public to rely on its offical Twitter account @smrt_singapore for the latest updates.