Singapore’s Downtown Line was hit with a major disruption today (Dec 12) with trains stopping at each station for more than 15 minutes. According to the Land Transport Authority, the fault affecting all stations on the Downtown Line first surfaced at Tampines station at 7.26pm and continued until 8.13pm. A passenger taking from Tampines to Bendeemer station said his total journey for the 8 stations were delayed by more than an hour due to the fault.
The Downtown Line was only opened two months ago and this is the second major disruption already for the S$21 billion railway line.
SBS Transit posted on Twitter saying they are “very sorry” but the company did not arrange alternative transport. No shuttle bus was provided by SBS Transit, and this created serious overcrowding at all Downtown Line stations during the peak hour evening.
According to an earlier statement by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore’s railway network require more power during peak hour period to accommodate the population. The Transport Ministry is currently busy concentrating on fixing the East-West and North-South Lines, which they claimed are “very old” train lines.