Two-hour TEL disruption: MRT service between Woodlands North and Bayshore stations resumes

Train services along the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) have resumed after a two-hour disruption on Wednesday (Sept 17) morning, said SMRT.

In a Facebook update at 8.54am, the train operator said that all train services on the TEL have resumed, and that free regular bus and bridging bus services have ended.

The disruption, which occurred at around 7am, spanned across all stations on the TEL from Bayshore to Woodlands North, and was caused by a signal fault, said SMRT.

Commuters were then advised by SMRT to allow for an additional 15 minutes of travel time due to the train disruption.

In an update at 8.38am, SMRT said that TEL services were "progressively resuming to normalcy" and that free regular and bridging bus services were still available.

Commuters were later informed at 8.49am that they could return to TEL stations to continue their journey, and that bridging bus services had ceased.

Sorry about the delay: SMRT

In another Facebook post at 9.05am, SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai, apologised for the delay and said that services had to be suspended for about 30 minutes to reset the train system and correct the signalling fault.

Prior to Wednesday's TEL disruption, the East-West Line (EWL) also faced a disruption caused by a signalling failure on Tuesday night.

At around 11pm, a fault in the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system resulted in a disruption to train services between Aljunied and Tanah Merah station on the EWL, said Lam.

"Our staff were immediately deployed to assist commuters, and engineers were on-site to carry out rectification works," he said.

Train services on the EWL were later cleared at 4.30am, said SMRT.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com