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SINGAPORE – Finance executive Ryan Koh, 29, spent nearly three hours on a train after an electric trip interrupted service on stretches of three MRT lines on Wednesday (Oct. 14).
He was on his way to Clementi’s house to Yew Tee when the power failure occurred. The train he was traveling in stopped inside the tunnel between Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak stations.
“Some lights went out immediately and the train slowed to a stop. I was expecting a minor delay, but now I’m stuck for almost three hours,” he said.
When The Straits Times spoke to him around 9 p.m., he said that most of the people on the train had left after SMRT staff began evacuating travelers around 8 p.m.
Older people were asked to move to the back of the train to disembark, it added, estimating that some 70 people remained on the train after the evacuation ceased. He did not get out because “the line was long and slow.”
Most of the travelers remained calm and informed family members about the delays, he added.
However, SMRT staff stopped untraining passengers around 9 p.m. due to heavy rains and the risk of lightning, it said.
Around 9.40 p.m. M., The staff told the passengers to sit down and confirmed that the train would move to Bukit Batok.
Koh, who received a courtesy voucher for a train ride, said he was tired and hungry. “I just want to go home asap.”
The power failure had disrupted service between Woodlands and Jurong East on the North-South Line, between Gul Circle and Queenstown on the East-West Line, and between HarbourFront and Serangoon on the Circle Line.
A major collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic raised fears among travelers like R. Fong.
The 28-year-old concept artist, who was stuck on the train in Kranji from 7.04pm to 8.24pm, said he was “definitely worried about Covid-19 because social distancing on the train is non-existent.”
Some travelers posted photos on social media of stations with the lights off, including Yew Tee, Boon Lay, and Joo Koon.
Mr. Leslie Lim, 23, was withdrawing money at an ATM at the Boon Lay station when the power failure occurred.
He walked to the station after the machine shut down, but found that travelers were not allowed in.
The national military then checked SMRT’s Twitter page, which told travelers to expect additional travel time. This confused him, he said, as station staff had informed travelers that services were not available.
He then took a private rental trip to his home in Sengkang, a trip that he said cost him $ 36 instead of the usual $ 24 due to rising prices.
There were between 30 and 40 people around who were confused, he added. “There really were no (safe distancing measures) and it wasn’t really being applied either due to the chaotic situation. Some of the staff were busy answering questions like which buses to take, sometimes surrounded by two or three people.”
The shops on the ground floor of the Jurong East MRT station were also affected by the blackout.
As the lights were turned back on outside the stores, staff at the darkened Mr Bean establishment used flashlights on their phones to serve customers.
At 9:30 p.m., a staff member who wanted to be known only as Madam Chang, 47, told ST that the power suddenly went out around 7 p.m. and has not been restored since.
“This is the first time this has happened … We may have to throw all the drinks into the refrigerator and the pancakes are already cold,” he said.
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