More than 12 hours after a signalling fault which slowed trains down to a crawl on the new Downtown MRT line, technicians are still unable to find out what is wrong with the system, or how long they will need to fix it.
In a joint statement issued at 3.42pm on Thursday (March 1), operator SBS Transit and regulator the Land Transport Authority said Singapore's newest line was "affected by a signalling system fault at Bayfront station at 6.01am".
"As a result, trains approaching Bayfront station in both directions had to be driven manually and at a lower speed," it added.
By 7.30am, technicians had isolated the fault to a stretch from Promenade to Bayfront stations - a distance of one stop - in the direction of Expo.
The statement said there was still additional travel time of up to 15 minutes between the two stops over the affected stretch.
Because of the slowdown along this stretch, trains on the entire line are also bunching up, causing travelling speeds to drop across several stations.
The signalling system was supplied by German engineering giant Siemens.
During the morning rush hour, hundreds of commuters were affected.
When The Straits Times was at Kaki Bukit station at about 8.30am, the trains were packed and commuters were unable to board.
Ms Melissa Ngo, a 39-year-old accounts manager, said: "I was heading to Bendemeer and I went down to the platform but I didn't think I would be able to get on the train, so I left. Usually, the trains here are very fast, I think this is the first time I've encountered something like this."
In a joint statement issued at 3.42pm on Thursday (March 1), operator SBS Transit and regulator the Land Transport Authority said Singapore's newest line was "affected by a signalling system fault at Bayfront station at 6.01am".
"As a result, trains approaching Bayfront station in both directions had to be driven manually and at a lower speed," it added.
By 7.30am, technicians had isolated the fault to a stretch from Promenade to Bayfront stations - a distance of one stop - in the direction of Expo.
The statement said there was still additional travel time of up to 15 minutes between the two stops over the affected stretch.
Because of the slowdown along this stretch, trains on the entire line are also bunching up, causing travelling speeds to drop across several stations.
The signalling system was supplied by German engineering giant Siemens.
During the morning rush hour, hundreds of commuters were affected.
When The Straits Times was at Kaki Bukit station at about 8.30am, the trains were packed and commuters were unable to board.
Ms Melissa Ngo, a 39-year-old accounts manager, said: "I was heading to Bendemeer and I went down to the platform but I didn't think I would be able to get on the train, so I left. Usually, the trains here are very fast, I think this is the first time I've encountered something like this."
