Several MRT Stations in NEL Will Be Closed Earlier on 4 Days in April 2021

On 28 and 29 March, something catastrophic happened in Singapore.

Reader: Woah, I was asleep. What happened? A natural disaster? Another deadly virus in Singapore?

No, it was much, much worse. There were two train delays in two days.

Reader: *gasps and collapses to the floor*

Some Singaporeans are still recovering from the tragedy, but it turns out that the trains are too.

MRT Stations btwn Serangoon and Punggol on the North-East Line MRT Stations will Close Earlier on 9,10,16,17 Apr

Some MRT stations on the North East Line will close earlier on some Fridays and Saturdays in April and May to facilitate replacement works, SBS Transit said on Friday (2 Apr).

The insulators of the overhead catenary system – which supplies power to the trains – will undergo “intensive replacement works”.

The replacement works were already scheduled to take place, but were brought forward because of the power fault that occurred last Sunday (28 March).

As many Singaporeans have been speaking to their therapists about, the power fault disrupted train services on the North-East Line (NEL) for almost three hours.

Investigations revealed that the power fault had been caused by a faulty insulator.

On the following dates, NEL stations between NE12 Serangoon and NE17 Punggol will close earlier at about 11pm:

• 9 Apr
• 10 Apr
• 16 Apr
• 17 Apr

Train services for the rest of the NEL, between NE1 HarbourFront and NE12 Serangoon, will operate at longer intervals of about nine minutes during the early closures.

Shuttle bus service 21 will also be available for commuters travelling along the affected section between Serangoon and Punggol for those who hate spending on taxis (like me).

Train services from Serangoon to HarbourFront stations will be extended to 12.15am as well, and LRT services will be extended to 1.10am in Sengkang and 1.15am in Punggol.

MRT Stations btwn Harbourfront and Punggol to Close Earlier too

In addition, MRT stations between NE1 HarbourFront and NE6 Dhoby Ghaut will close earlier too on the following dates:

• 23 Apr
• 24 Apr
• 7 May
• 8 May

But train services from NE6 Dhoby Ghaut to NE17 Punggol will still be available and will be extended to 12.36am during the closures.

LRT services will be extended as well to 1.03am in Sengkang and 1.05am in Punggol.

Similarly, shuttle bus service 22 will run along the affected section between HarbourFront and Dhoby Ghaut for commuters affected by the closures.

The bus service 325 will also run for a little longer during the closures in April and May, with its last bus departing Hougang Central bus interchange at 12.50am.

Service 315 will have its operating hours extended as well to 1am from Serangoon bus interchange.

SBS Transit advised commuters to plan ahead for their journey by checking the timings for the affected MRT stations.

Featured Image: Adwo / Shutterstock.com