SINGAPORE — Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung apologised to commuters in a Facebook post after power faults caused disruptions along three MRT train lines on Wednesday (Oct 14) night.

“Has been a rough and stressful evening for many commuters. We are sorry for the disruption and all the troubles caused,” he wrote.

The troubles began at around 7pm, when a power fault disrupted services on the North-South Line (NSL) and the East-West Line (EWL). At 7.30pm, the Circle Line (CCL) was also affected. The disruptions lasted more than 3.5 hours on the NSL and the EWL, and over an hour on the CCL. 

A total of 36 stations were affected, and passengers still onboard the trains had to alight.

Mr Ong said that when the disruptions occurred, around 115 bridging buses and 400 SMRT staff members were quickly deployed to affected MRT stations and bus stops to guide commuters and help them continue on their journeys.

“But it was a power trip and the lights were out. So the staff used torchlights to shuffle along slowly in the dark,” he said.

He added that he received a text message on his phone from a friend that two passengers in a train were feeling unwell. 

“I got the message through to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT to attend to them quickly,” Mr Ong said.

“Safety of the commuters remained topmost on our minds tonight.”

Mr Ong also acknowledged that there will be students taking national examinations on Thursday, and the authorities are “on standby to help each and every child get to their centres safely and on time”.

Services on the Circle Line resumed at 8.40pm, while those on NSL and EWL resumed at 10.35pm.

Mr Ong said that the power cable fault was isolated as of 10.34pm and an engineering team will be working through the night to rectify the problem. 

LTA said earlier that the disruption was caused by a power trip and a faulty power cable, based on its preliminary investigations.

In a statement late Wednesday night, SMRT gave details on the power fault saying that it had occured between Marsiling and Jurong East MRT stations on the North-South Line and between Dover and Tuas Link MRT stations on the East-West Line. 

Free regular and bus bridging services were made available for commuters at the affected stations, it added. 

Commuters in stalled trains were also safely detrained, assisted by staff. It explained however that detrainment for the last train near Bukit Batok was delayed till 9.55pm due to wet weather and lightning risk. 

"Preliminary investigations show that the incident was caused by a power trip. We are working with LTA to carry out a full investigation into the incident," said the operator. 

It also apologised to all affected commuters.