Commuters flag TEL train fault on 18 Nov 2025 morning, unreported by SMRT on social media

SINGAPORE: Commuters took to social media on 18 November 2025 morning to report a train fault on the Thomson–East Coast Line.

Several noted an estimated extra travel time of about 30 minutes between Caldecott and Gardens by the Bay.

According to posts shared on Reddit, information boards at affected stations displayed notices attributing the delay to a train fault.

Users criticised the absence of matching updates on SMRT’s official social media channels.

Some commuters said that station announcements were made as early as 6:00 AM, stating, “Due to a train fault on the TEL, there will be an additional travelling time of about 30 minutes from Caldecott to Gardens by the Bay. Free bridging buses are available. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Other Redditors highlighted claimed delays on the North–South Line, reporting a platform screen door malfunction between Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh.

These reports were shared alongside a crowdsourced SGTrains service status update timestamped 7:40 AM.

A separate check by commuters on the SGTrains service status at 9:00 AM indicated that both the North–South Line and the North East Line were running normally.

Users suggested that earlier issues had likely been resolved by then.

On SMRT’s Facebook and X pages, no service delay announcement corresponding to commuter reports was observed.

Some commenters commented on its FB page, questioning why no alerts were issued on official platforms despite the visible station notices.

One Redditor said, “No updates on the official channels. They do not even have the decency to help commuters make travel plans. We are just supposed to get to the station then realise there is a breakdown.”

Others questioned the absence of alerts on the operator’s website, noting that such gaps contributed to trust issues between commuters and the operator.

The lack of official communication appeared to be a recurring concern raised by multiple users.

Some reported normal service during the same period.

One commuter shared that a journey taken at 7:28 AM from Caldecott to Shenton Way appeared unaffected, with trains running as usual.

Another commuter reported slight slowdowns between Woodlands North and Woodlands but said that speeds returned to normal soon after.

The rest of the journey to Orchard reportedly proceeded smoothly.

 

A commenter reshared a compiled list of MRT faults recorded between July and November, updating it to include the reported TEL delay on 18 November.

This compilation was cited in discussions about reliability concerns.

Earlier on 11 November, commuters reported delays of up to 25 minutes on the East–West Line between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris due to a track point fault, with no corresponding updates from SMRT on its social media channels.

Ongoing strain on MRT reliability

The Thomson-East Coast Line is among Singapore’s newest rail lines, linking northern residential estates to the central business district and — eventually — to the eastern corridor.

However, since its phased openings began, the line has encountered several faults.

In July, the TEL experienced an hour-long breakdown caused by a similar signalling issue.

Across the wider MRT network, recent months have seen an uptick in incidents involving both older and newer lines.

On the night of 16 September, a power supply fault affected services across six stations on the East-West Line.

Just days earlier, the Punggol LRT had been disrupted for about three hours on 13 September due to a system fault preventing trains from being launched from the depot.

A separate five-hour power fault on 12 August crippled the Sengkang–Punggol LRT, while another on 15 August caused a three-hour outage across all 29 stations on the network.

The problems have not been confined to a single line.

On 2 September, a train fault on the North–South Line delayed services for 25 minutes between Woodlands and Yishun, while on 6 August, the East-West Line suffered a five-hour breakdown.

In August, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow has acknowledged mounting public frustration, describing the recent series of incidents as “disappointing.”

MRT Reliability Falls in September

Singapore’s MRT network recorded a second month of declining reliability, based on data released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 14 November.

The latest figures showed trains travelled an average of 1.67 million train-km between delays lasting more than five minutes from October 2024 to September 2025.

This represented a decline from the 1.74 million train-km recorded between September 2024 and August 2025.

LTA said the figures were derived from the 12-month moving average of mean kilometres between failure, adding that the measure captures the distance a train travels before experiencing a delay of more than five minutes.