Woman apologises for causing train delay after her leg gets stuck in platform gap

Train delay after woman's leg gets stuck in platform gap at Boon Keng MRT yesterday morning

While waiting to get into an MRT train, she was pushed, fell down and got her leg stuck in the gap.

But after she was rescued, even as she was in pain and being taken away on a stretcher, she apologised repeatedly for causing a 40-minute delay during the morning rush.

The woman's leg was trapped at about 8am yesterday in the gap at Boon Keng MRT station.

A video posted online shows the woman in pain, moaning and tapping the train's floor.

The woman, who is in her 40s, had to be freed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) using hydraulic tools.

An SCDF spokesman said they received a call at about 8.10am.

The woman was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital with abrasions and swelling on her right knee.

Twitter user @JiaYi92 tweeted that even while the woman was being taken away on a stretcher, she was apologising.

She tweeted: "The auntie whose leg was stuck at Boon Keng MRT apologised for causing people to be late when she was being sent away on a stretcher.

"And people who don't know what happened are just raging at the auntie who got stuck."

Train services were disrupted on the North-East Line towards HarbourFront because of the woman's mishap, but resumed less than an hour later, at 8.53am.

The disruption caused frustration among commuters, who took to social media to vent.

Twitter user @NSBA__ tweeted: "Whoever's leg got stuck at Boon Keng station, I'm sorry. But look, I'm late."

Facebook user Mohamad Syahid Arif posted on The New Paper Facebook page: "Maybe SMRT/SBS Transit should consider what can be done about this? I think too many times same type of incident happening. (sic)"

This is the third incident reported since March of a commuter getting trapped in the platform gap.

The first reported incident this year happened on March 11, when a female Nanyang Junior College student slipped and had her left leg stuck knee-deep in the gap at Hougang station.

LIQUID SOAP

She was freed by SBS Transit staff who used liquid soap to ease her leg out.

It happened again at Jurong East station on May 6, to another woman, whom netizens speculated was pushed. She was freed by SMRT staff.

This time, it was at Boon Keng MRT station, which is operated by SBS Transit.

Ms Tammy Tan, senior vice-president of SBS Transit's Corporate Communications, said that in the latest incident, the woman lost her balance after she was pushed while standing near the train door.

"Her leg slipped through the 10cm gap and she could not get it out," she said.

"As a result of this incident, the train was held back at the station causing service to be delayed on the line."

Commuter Kimberly Choo, 22, a student, said she was surprised to hear of another incident.

"Two of the cases including this one was because of people pushing," she said.

"I think we as commuters should stop pushing and be more courteous, and perhaps stop being glued to our phones and notice our surroundings.

"We need to be more alert and notice those who need to exit the train."

NEW TRAINS WILL HAVE GAP FILLERS

New trains for the North-East Line and Circle Line will be installed with gap fillers, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

With the advancement in technology, LTA had studied that option for new train lines instead of gap fillers on the platform edge.

The LTA explained that the gap varies for the different lines. It ranges from 36mm for the Downtown Line where trains are installed with gap fillers, to 110mm for underground stations on the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL).

"For the NSEWL, we had installed gap fillers on the platform edge of all above-ground MRT stations since 1997, thereby narrowing the distance to 75mm," said a spokesman.

But the design of the screen doors on the underground stations on the NSEWL ruled it out.

This article was first published on May 15, 2015.
Get The New Paper for more stories.