NEL services delayed after student’s leg gets caught in platform gap
Student's leg stuck at Hougang MRT platform. Photo: "Long" on Facebook
SINGAPORE – Peak-hour train services along the North-East Line (NEL) were delayed yesterday morning, after a student’s leg was caught in the gap between the platform and train at Hougang MRT Station.
The incident came on the back of a recent spate of train disruptions that have been plaguing public transport operator SMRT. On Monday evening, a fire shut down the entire Bukit Panjang LRT line before services resumed on Tuesday afternoon.
NEL operator SBS Transit said that just before 8am yesterday, a female commuter had her left leg caught in the 10cm gap at the station after slipping. “Staff and fellow commuters quickly attended to her and managed to get her out several minutes later. She was subsequently sent to hospital for treatment,” said Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit’s senior vice-president of corporate communications.
By 2pm, the student had been discharged from Tan Tock Seng Hospital. TODAY understands that the 10cm gap is meant to accommodate the movement of a train when it enters the station. Without the gap, the train may come into contact with the edge of the platform.
Signs are placed on all train and platform doors, and prerecorded announcements are played to remind commuters of the gap.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew told Parliament yesterday that the recent train disruptions had undermined confidence in the transport network. The incidents are a “stark reminder” that there is “quite some way to go”, he said during the Committee of Supply debate.
Commuters took to social media to air their grouses after yesterday’s disruption. Software engineer Lim Jia Wei, 27, said he was late for work by 45 minutes, after making a detour to avoid the crowd. “The station was packed to the brim, with lots of people at the platform at 8.30am,” he told TODAY.
By 9.30am, the crowd at the station had dispersed.
