Potential delay on North-South Line; commuters advised to plan ahead: SMRT

SINGAPORE – Hours after signalling faults threw the morning rush hour commute into chaos, rail operator SMRT has warned commuters of a second straight day of potential delays on the North-South Line (NSL).

In a Facebook post at 4.53pm on Friday (Aug 18), SMRT urged commuters planning to travel on the NSL to “plan ahead”.

“If you intend to travel on the North-South Line later, please plan ahead. You may experience longer train travel time,” the post read.

In a subsequent tweet, SMRT said that its engineers are “working hard to continue their checks and investigations”. 

Earlier on Friday morning, signalling faults caused a three-hour delay on the NSL and disrupted the entire Downtown Line (DTL). 

It affected thousands of commuters heading to work and students trying to reach their school on time for their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) oral exams.

The Ministry of Education told students who were late for the oral exams not to worry as arrangements had been made for those who arrived late, and that they did not need to pick up excuse letters at the affected train stations.

According to SMRT, signalling experts and engineers are still checking the system to identify the root cause of the Friday morning delays.

This came after a signaling fault near Ang Mo Kio on Thursday evening also disrupted the NSL, causing delays of more than two hours.