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Confusion, hiccups for commuters during Downtown Line open house

SINGAPORE — A day out with the family to check out the Downtown Line’s new stations took an interesting twist on Sunday (Oct 15) for sales manager Joanne Chew.

A train fault, which disrupted service between Bukit Panjang and Beauty World for about 45 minutes until 1.21pm, affected commuters at DTL’s new stations as well. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

A train fault, which disrupted service between Bukit Panjang and Beauty World for about 45 minutes until 1.21pm, affected commuters at DTL’s new stations as well. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — A day out with the family to check out the Downtown Line’s new stations took an interesting twist on Sunday (Oct 15) for sales manager Joanne Chew.

The 29-year-old resident of Tampines West was at the Bedok North station when she, her husband and mother-in-law were told to disembark from the train – after waiting 10 minutes for it to move.

“Half the lights in the train had suddenly shut off. Then we were told to get off the train because of a train fault,” she told TODAY.

Describing the “confusion” at the Downtown Line 3’s (DTL3) Open House, Ms Chew said she was “surprised” by the hiccup.

The Open House on Sunday for DTL3 – the third leg of the line, consisting of 16 new stations from Fort Canning to Expo – offered free rides to commuters and featured games, activities and performances.

But a train fault, which disrupted service between Bukit Panjang and Beauty World for about 45 minutes until 1.21pm, also affected commuters at DTL’s new stations.

SBS Transit, which operates the Downtown Line, tweeted about the service disruption from Bukit Panjang to Beauty World, but has not explained why train service on the newest leg of the line was affected.

When TODAY was on a Bukit Panjang-bound train at Bedok Reservoir station at around 12.20pm, the train stopped at the station for about 15 minutes, and announcements were made about a 10-minute delay due to a train fault.

There was some confusion among commuters, as they waited for the train doors to close and for service to resume. Some exited the train cabin, wondering what had happened.

The train later stopped at Bedok North for around 10 minutes.

Mr Jason Fu, 35, a real estate agent was at Kaki Bukit MRT station with his family. They had started from Tampines East because they had wanted to collect stamps as part of the Open House games.

Mr Fu and his wife said the train stopped at every stop from Tampines East for about five to 10 mins.

His wife, who only wanted to be known as Ms Ong, said that she observed that at Bedok North station, the doors had nearly shut on a passenger, as well as another with a personal mobility device.

While Mr Fu felt that these hiccups were to be expected given it was the first day of passenger operations, Ms Ong, an assistant marketing manager, felt that it was “not a pleasant experience”.

“These train delays happen so often (that) we were not surprised that it happened now,” the 32-year-old added.

Retiree T T Wong was heading from Bukit Panjang to Rochor with his wife when the delays struck. He said there was “no proper communication” by SBST to the passengers.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” the 69-year-old added.

The open house — which ends at 6pm — was launched earlier in the morning by Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health Dr Lam Pin Min. The 21km DTL3 will begin operations on Oct 21, making the DTL the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore. It will allow direct travel from the north-western and eastern areas of Singapore to the Central Business District and Marina Bay. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOW YOUJIN

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