Man dies after being hit by train at Fajar LRT Station

SINGAPORE — A man was killed after he fell onto the tracks at Fajar LRT Station and was run over by a driverless train early Friday morning (March 24).

The man’s body was spotted by an SMRT employee after the last train service left the station at around 1am, the transport operator said in response to TODAY’s queries.

Ms Margaret Teo, SMRT’s head of corporate marketing and communications, said: “The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were immediately alerted and arrived on site shortly after. We are extending our full cooperation to the police in their investigations.”

The SCDF said that it sent a fire engine and an ambulance to the scene.

The man was pronounced dead by paramedics on the spot.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

This is not the first such case on the Bukit Panjang LRT network.

In 2000, a man was killed by a train at the Jelapang LRT Station when he jumped onto the tracks in a bid to cross to the other platform.

In 2015, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) called a tender to put up platform barriers at all LRT stations to prevent people from falling or getting onto the tracks, due to rising commuter numbers.

LTA told TODAY that it has been installing fixed barriers at all LRT stations on the Bukit Panjang loop, as well as on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT network since the second half of 2015, “to minimise incidents of accidental track intrusions”.

The works have been completed at all stations on the Bukit Panjang LRT network, except at Petir and Jelapang stations.

“Works at these stations will complete by the middle of this year,” an LTA spokesperson said, adding that works on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT stations would be done by the end of next year.