SINGAPORE — On Sunday (June 4), SMRT officially launched its first Alstom Movia R151 train, the seventh generation of trains for the North-South Line and East-West Line.

Viral videos on social media showed crowds of train enthusiasts gathered for the launch, earning criticism from online users for "overreacting" to what is "literally just a train".

Fans and commuters also weighed in on the R151's design and features, with some questioning the inclusion of new features such as the perch seats, which are sloping seats that commuters can lean against while standing, and the large panoramic windows.

In one TikTok video of the launch, posted by a user known as "Ong Weijian", a horn sounds and onlookers — many of them equipped with mobile phone tripods — cheer as the first R151 train rolls into the Tuas Link MRT Station.

The video also includes clips of the train's interior, which sports green handlebars and seats. Posted at about 9am on Sunday, it has already received 454,500 views as of Monday evening.

Though comments have been turned off on the original video, a repost on Instagram by "Singapore Incidents" has attracted many comments from people who called those attending the train launch "cavemen" and "fools".

One Instagram user asked: "(It) is literally just a train, why are so many people overreacting?"

Some said that the attendees were simply "dying to be the first who posted it on social media" and joked that the train launch was "the only thing to be excited about in Singapore", while another mocked the crowd as people who have not seen a train before.

A separate video by a TikTok user known as "Adiel" attracted its fair share of sarcastic comments, with one TikTok user jokingly dubbing the train enthusiasts as "the unemployed friends on a weekday".

However, there were others who felt that these critics were the ones overreacting.

A top comment on the Instagram repost of the video by "Ong Weijian" read: "I think they are train enthusiasts. It's just a hobby. Nothing wrong with that. Let people have fun."

Another Instagram user seemed to have been won over by the video. "Like if you wanted to laugh at them but found out the train is actually quite lit," the comment went, using the slang "quite lit" to mean it was quite exciting.

On TikTok, many users similarly came to the train enthusiasts' defence.

One said: "I'm not a train enthusiast myself but I find this quite interesting."

Another agreed: "Honestly, it's so wholesome to see people so excited about the simplest of things!"

In response to a comment that said that he had "too much time" to go from Tuas Link to Pasir Ris station for the train launch, "Adiel" said that it was "time well-spent for me", adding that people can be seen as spending "too much time" watching a 90-minute football match as well.

Other social media users on TikTok and online forum Reddit noted that they had not realised Singapore was home to such a large community of train enthusiasts.

"Adiel" revealed that many of them are "low-profile because of the mockery they get for the hobby".

On Reddit, a discussion thread about the R151 train drew more talk about its new features and differences from its predecessors.

One Reddit user, though saying that the trains looked sleek, did not care for the dynamic route map display in newer trains because the high-tech "slide show" meant too long a wait to know which station the train was heading to, instead of the simpler route map with lighted points used in earlier generations of trains.

Another Reddit user said: "The new displays are better in terms of the hardware, but they're really hard to read. Slanted text isn't exactly friendly."

Route map displays aside, commuters also documented the transport experience.

One Reddit user who claimed to be on the R151 on launch day said that the "ride quality" left much to be desired.

"The suspension isn't as damped as the older trains, causing a lot of vibrations, which you'll feel when you’re seated."

Others wondered about the effectiveness of the R151's new perch seats, designed as a sloping bench that allows commuters to "perch" on it in an upright position.

These seats are meant to allow for greater passenger capacity by taking up less space than conventional seats.

In the sixth-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang C151C train model, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had aimed to achieve this by using foldable "tip-up" seats, which received much criticism in the past few years.

The idea behind the tip-up seats was that they could be unfolded during non-peak hours for commuters to sit, but would remain folded during peak hours to make way for more standing room.

However, train operators have been unable to fully utilise the mechanism because they can only change the seats' orientation when the train is not in service.

Other commuters said that the perch seats, while doing away with the cumbersome folding mechanism, are not much better. A tweet by the SG Transport Critic blog shared a photo of a man trying to use one such seat.

One Reddit user said, referring to that photo, that the "space savings" are questionable and the seat is positioned too low for the average adult.

TikTok user "Adiel" said that the seats in the R151 do "feel better, though not by a mile".

The public transport fan also said that the new model has better LCD displays, cooler air-conditioning and better soundproofing for quieter rides, calling it "a class above" the usual trains plying the North-South Line and East-West Line.

Another highly anticipated feature of the R151 were the large, panoramic single-frame windows, not found in all past six generations of trains used on the two MRT lines, which had a split-window format.

The new window format is intended to provide an "improved viewing experience" when travelling above ground.

Some people remained unimpressed by the feature, stating: "What's the use of the bigger windows? Can't see much outside because of the noise barriers installed in many sections of the tracks above ground.

"If anything, bigger windows mean the interior is going to be warmer because more sunlight can pass through the windows."

LTA has bought 106 trains of six cars each to replace the same number of first- to third-generation trains on the North-South Line and East-West Line.

These older trains have been in service, on average, for close to 30 years, Alstom said in a press statement last Thursday.

In addition to "commuter-centric design", the new R151 trains are equipped with a self-test system, which automatically checks that they are fit for operation before services begin each day, LTA said.

Designed in Germany and manufactured in China, all 106 of the trains are expected to be rolled out by the end of 2026.