By Daniel Lai for The Straits Times
Copyright tnp
There were 18 students who were late for the GCE N(A)-level humanities exam because of the two-hour Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) disruption on the morning of Sept 17.
A spokesperson for the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB), in response to queries, said the students were not penalised.
She said: “They arrived before the end of the paper and were given time to settle down before sitting the paper. All of them were given the full duration of the paper.”
All candidates, she added, will be given the full duration of the paper if they reach the examination centre before the end of the paper.
Each year, SEAB issues guidelines for all exam candidates – for instance, making sure they give themselves enough travel time on their exam days, and what to do if they are affected by a major train service disruption.
At about 7.30am on Sept 17, service on a section of the TEL stretching 27 stations was disrupted by a signalling fault.
SMRT first said there was a signal fault between Woodlands North and Bayshore stations in a Facebook post at 7.29am.
At 8.54am, SMRT said train service had resumed, and that free regular and bridging bus services had ended.
SMRT Trains president Lam Sheau Kai later in the day said the recent MRT disruptions are isolated cases and “not systemic issues across the rail network”.
The train disruption on Sept 17 was the fifth to hit the MRT network this month.
Late on Sept 16, a six-station stretch of the East-West Line was unavailable owing to a fault in the power supply system that led to a signalling failure.
On Sept 14, a train fault occurred along the North-South Line, resulting in a 40-minute disruption. On Sept 2, there were delays across a five-station stretch from Woodlands to Yishun stations on the same MRT line.
On the morning of Sept 1, service along a three-station stretch between Marina Bay and Promenade stations on the Circle Line became unavailable after a train fault.
Other than the TEL, SMRT operates the North-South Line, East-West Line and Circle Line. It also operates the Bukit Panjang LRT line.
According to latest figures from the Land Transport Authority, the MRT network’s reliability over the 12 months ending June 2025 fell to its lowest level since 2020.
