Restoration of East-West MRT Line services a combined effort by foreign workers, contractors and volunteers

East-West Line disruption from 25 to 30 Sep 2024

By Esther Loi, The Straits Times, 6 Oct 2024

It was a race against time for Indian national Dhandapani Vignesh and his rail welding crew to finish joining new rail segments in about three days to fix a section of damaged tracks between Jurong and Clementi stations.

Originally contracted to work on depot renewal projects under the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the 36-year-old construction manager, together with 20 other foreign workers from his team, were alerted at 7pm on Sept 26 that they were being roped in to repair the damaged tracks.

The day before, a train had caused extensive track and trackside damage along a stretch of the East-West Line (EWL), halting rail services between Jurong East and Buona Vista.

The team immediately got down to work, putting in nine- to 10-hour shifts from Sept 27 to 30 to finish welding – or connecting – the new rail segments to existing ones along the westbound track so that trains could run smoothly again. The new rails replaced the ones damaged by the faulty train.

The disruption, which lasted six days till Sept 30 and affected about 2.6 million passengers, was one of the most severe rail disruptions in the 37-year history of Singapore’s MRT system. Train services resumed on Oct 1.

Despite the pressure of the task at hand, Mr Vignesh mused that he literally “did not feel the heat much” as rail welding, which involves heating rail segments placed between ceramic moulds to join them, was done in the shade in tents.

The main challenge, he added, was having only a limited working timeframe – from around 2.30pm to midnight daily. Welding was not possible at other times of the day since the rails would expand in the daytime heat and eat into the 30mm gaps required to insert welding materials.

Mr Vignesh and his team were also heartened by the steady stream of cold drinking water almost every hour and fast-food meals provided by LTA, rail operator SMRT and even members of the public.

They were among the more than 800 workers responsible for getting the EWL train services up and running again.

China Railway First Group construction manager Steve Hall also had to be recalled from various rail projects he was working on, including the fifth stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line, to join the recovery works.

In charge of coordinating works across three contractors and some 300 workers over four days, Mr Hall, 63, had less than 12 hours to put together a team of railway workers after LTA notified him about his involvement in the repair works on the afternoon of Sept 26.

Some challenges the British national and Singapore permanent resident faced in the repair works included securing sufficient manpower and allocating tasks efficiently, despite getting just four hours of rest every night. He also had to earn the trust of workers whom he had never worked with.

The biggest difficulty for workers on the tracks was, however, dealing with the heat, especially in areas with noise barriers since they are confined to a small space with no breeze, said Mr Hall.

He was especially touched by the kindness of members of the public who walked up to hand him food, including one who passed him 12 fish burgers at Dover station to hand out to his team.

Meanwhile, on the ground at the stations were 620 staff from the public transport operators and LTA, as well as police officers and volunteers helping to guide passengers.

Among them was retired air force engineer Lim Eng Gek, 62, who was excited to help out and volunteered to assist commuters at the bus stop for bridging buses near Jurong East station during the evening peak hour on Sept 28 and 30.

A memorable moment was when she was sheltering an elderly passenger from the heavy rain with her own umbrella after he alighted from the bridging bus and was crossing the road, while a woman in her late 20s sheltered Madam Lim across the road.

Madam Lim was touched when the woman said she was inspired by her to do a good deed.

Likewise, principal executive of bus licensing at LTA’s public transport group Noraskin Ibrahim volunteered to manage crowds at a bus stop near Queenstown station on Sept 25, the first day of the train disruptions.

The 45-year-old rushed from her home in Bukit Batok even though she was originally supposed to work from home so she could help with her daughter’s revision for the Primary School Leaving Examination.

Ms Noraskin had to be the eyes on the ground, to ensure that enough buses were deployed to the area, by reporting information to the control centre, such as the frequency of bridging buses at the bus stop and the flow of passengers exiting the station.

Noting that her family was very supportive of her volunteering efforts, Ms Noraskin added that her daughter finished revising for her examinations by herself, and even told her: “Go, Mummy, just go!”

Another volunteer was National Service Probationary Inspector Neelarajan Brian Matthew, a full-time national serviceman (NSF) in the police’s Public Transport Security Command (TransCom). He stepped forward to help manage crowds at the stations, even though his daily duties do not require him to do so as he handles operations planning in the TransCom office.

The 20-year-old said the train disruption was sudden and unexpected, and many passengers approached him to ask for directions, and he tried his best to help them.

Stationed at Jurong East and Boon Lay stations during the morning rush hour, the NSF said it was challenging to ensure the safety of commuters, who were rushing to get to their workplace or school on time, especially because they were making their way down slippery stairs amid heavy rain.