Fault causes platform doors at City Hall MRT Station to stay open, delays rail services on May 4 evening

SINGAPORE — Some platform screen doors at City Hall MRT Station malfunctioned on Tuesday (May 4) evening, leading to delays on parts of the East-West Line.

The fault was resolved only during engineering hours, after train operations stopped for the day.

Responding to TODAY’s queries on Wednesday, rail operator SMRT said that at about 6.35pm on Tuesday, some platform doors on the station’s eastbound side could not open because of a technical fault.

They were later opened manually and then kept open to ease the flow of train commuters while its engineers worked to rectify the fault, SMRT’s chief communications officer Margaret Teo said.

The rail operator did not make a public announcement about the fault on its social media pages.

Train services continued and more staff members were deployed to the platform to help commuters.

As a precaution, trains entering and leaving the station were driven at a slower speed.

Ms Teo said that commuters were told via station announcements to add up to 10 minutes to their journeys between Outram Park and Bugis stations.

Compliance executive Cindy Wong, 30, was at City Hall MRT Station at about 7.50pm on Tuesday when she noticed that the platform doors were not closed.

“Everyone was standing patiently, just surprised that the door on the platform I was at did not close, and then realised that other doors on the platform had (the same problem),” Ms Wong said.

She waited about 10 minutes before she boarded a train.

“A first train arrived, but went off without letting passengers alight. It was also stuck there for around 10 minutes.” 

Ms Wong said that SMRT employees and transport ambassadors were stationed in front of the opened doors to prevent people from getting near or falling onto the tracks.

In March, MRT commuters had to grapple with longer journeys on the North-South Line, which is also run by SMRT, after a platform-door fault at Bishan station slowed services along three stops on the line.

Just over a fortnight earlier, platform doors at Braddell MRT Station — also on the North-South Line — malfunctioned for one-and-a-half hours, though this did not stop trains from running normally. 

In July 2019, eastbound trains on the East-West Line had to skip Dover station because of a faulty platform door.

And, in May 2018, a platform-door fault at Dhoby Ghaut station on the North-South Line caused 45-minute delays during the evening peak hour, as trains had to move slower through the station for the safety of commuters.