Passengers were stuck in the train without lights for about five minutes, and were guided to the station as much as 40 minutes from the time the train broke down, an eyewitness says.

SINGAPORE: Some passengers found themselves walking on the Light Rail Transit (LRT) tracks in near-darkness in Sengkang on Tuesday evening (Mar 29), due to a train fault.

LRT passengers forced to walk on track after train fault in Se... Sengkang LRT breakdown: Up to 30 people had to walk on the LRT tracks in near-darkness after a train fault.Full story: http://bit.ly/1Rp0gEg(Video: Mohann) Posted by Channel NewsAsia on Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Advertisement

Off-duty cameraman Rajamohann Alrum Murugaiah said he was on the train travelling from Sengkang station to Renjong station at about 7pm when it stopped suddenly about 150m to 200m from Renjong station. He said the lights and ventilation fans went out for about five minutes, before coming on again.

Facebook video: What it was like to walk on tracks in near-darkness

SBS Transit first announced the disruption on Twitter at 7.57pm, saying there was no service on the East Loop of the LRT, and that free bridging bus services were available. It later stated at 8.22pm that services on the West (outer loop) of the LRT were also unavailable.

At 8.31pm, SBS Transit said full LRT service resumed.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Mr Rajamohann said while there were announcements on the train about the disruption, SBS staff only arrived about 20 minutes after the breakdown. They tried but failed to restart the LRT train, before two or three staff finally asked passengers to alight from the carriage and guided them towards Renjong station at around 7.30pm to 7.40pm.

There were about 30 people inside the train, but Mr Rajamohann said he did not observe any panic among his fellow passengers.

"It was after work ... I think they were just tired and frustrated," he said.