SINGAPORE: On the evening of 10 July 2025, commuters on Singapore’s East-West Line (EWL) faced delays and overcrowding, particularly near Jurong East MRT station, during peak hours.
Social media users reported long waits, packed platforms, and limited information, though SMRT made no formal announcement regarding any service disruption.
At 6.57 pm, a Reddit user posted a photo showing a congested platform at Jurong East station towards Pasir Ris.
The accompanying post stated that announcements attributed the delay to “track works”.
However, the commuter also noted an absence of updates on both official news sources and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) website.
Crowded on Jurong East station at 6:30pm
byu/piccadilly_ insingapore
Another commuter on Xiaohongshu posted at 6.24 pm that she waited over ten minutes at Joo Koon station and was forced to alight at Lakeside.
She claimed that the next train took 15 minutes to arrive and cited hearsay that the issue lay between Jurong East and Clementi.
Several commuters referenced SGTrain which reflected user-submitted reports of delays in the Jurong East area.
Some users shared frustrations about overcrowded trains that were too full to board and long intervals of up to 16 minutes between trains.
One commuter commented in Mandarin that announcements were vague, simply repeating that the platform was crowded without providing reasons for the delay.
Another commuter shared her experience travelling from Raffles Place to Kembangan.
She observed that trains halted for about three minutes at each station, with repeated announcements citing a track fault and stating that “the train ahead is still at the next station”.
A separate Reddit user described how passengers were stopped at the gantry at Jurong East around 6.30 pm.
SMRT staff were seen preventing people from tapping in, citing platform overcrowding.
According to the post, the lift was non-operational, and large numbers of people were left waiting at Level 1.
Amid the chaos, two strangers were overheard deciding to share a taxi to Woodlands to bypass the delay.
Online reactions included sarcastic commentary, with one user stating that “if it’s not announced online, it doesn’t count as a breakdown—KPI met!”
Others questioned whether transparency would improve if ministers had to take MRT trains during peak hours monthly.
SMRT fined S$3 million over maintenance and system lapses in 2024 East-West Line disruption
This incident comes after a significant disruption on the East-West Line in September 2024, which led to a S$3 million fine imposed on SMRT by the LTA.
According to the LTA’s statement on 3 June 2025, the disruption on 25 September 2024 was caused by an axle box detaching from a train between Dover and Clementi.
The dislodged part damaged the tracks, resulting in the bogie coming off the rail and affecting nine stations between Boon Lay and Queenstown.
Normal services only resumed six days later, on 1 October 2024. The disruption affected approximately 500,000 of the 2.8 million daily MRT journeys.
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