Platform door fault at Bishan MRT Station slows rail services along North-South Line

SINGAPORE — MRT commuters continued to face longer journeys along a stretch of the North-South Line on Friday (March 19) afternoon, hours after a platform-door fault at Bishan station slowed services along three stops on the line.

In a tweet just before 8.30am, rail operator SMRT asked commuters to add 10 minutes to their journeys from Ang Mo Kio to Braddell stations, in the direction of Marina South Pier, owing to a platform screen door malfunctioning.

Several commuters, however, lamented on Twitter that they experienced longer delays of more than 30 minutes.

Commuter Joseph Tan, who goes by the Twitter handle "jtej2008", said that the announcement on the fault came as early as 7am when the train he was on passed Yishun MRT Station. Commuters were then told to disembark at Ang Mo Kio three stops away. 

A train that arrived later was “not even moving” towards Bishan, he added.

At about 9.55am, SMRT told commuters in its second Twitter alert to add five minutes to their journeys between the three stations.

In an update at 12.45pm, the operator said that trains from Ang Mo Kio to Braddell would be moving slower because of a fault related to platform screen doors at Bishan MRT Station.

Just after 4pm, SMRT said that normal train service had resumed between Ang Mo Kio and Braddell stations.

This is not the first time that faulty platform screen doors have hit the North-South Line.

Earlier this month, the screen doors at Braddell MRT Station malfunctioned for one-and-a-half hours, though this did not stop trains from running as normal.

The fault required SMRT to keep the platform doors open manually along the North-South Line towards Marina South Pier.

In May 2018, a similar fault at Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station — also on the North-South Line — caused 45-minute delays during the evening peak hour, as trains had to move slower at the station for the safety of commuters.