A life-endangering train breakdown incident on North-South Line (NSL) went unreported last Tuesday (Jan 2) with commuters reporting that the train abruptly reversed. According to a news article reported by Chinese papers Shin Ming Ri Bao yesterday (Jan 7), a commuter said that the train was travelling from Ang Mo Kio station to Bishan when the train made several irregular stoppages.
Commuter Mr Wu told the Chinese papers that the train heading towards the city was stopping at Ang Mo Kio station, travelled for about 100m before applying the brakes to a complete stop in the middle of the track. About 3 mins later, the train reversed and travelled back to the station at a relatively high speed. After stopping at Ang Mo Kio station for about a minute, the train made the reversal further back towards Choa Chu Kang’s direction.
As there was no announcement by SMRT, many commuters were shocked by the abrupt reversal believing that the train may collide with the incoming one. The train then stopped after travelling about 200m and returned to Ang Mo Kio station before proceeding to it’s regular schedule.
The Chinese state media papers apparently delayed the reporting by a week despite having received the news first hand on the day.
On 17 Oct 2017, a train collision happened at Joo Koon station due to a signalling fault. According to SMRT, the new signalling system are still in testing phase and not fully commissioned.