SINGAPORE — Later starting times for train services at 13 stations in the western part of Singapore kicked off on Sunday (June 5), resulting in some early-bird commuters having to adjust to new travel routines.

Although ushers were on hand to guide commuters to the parallel bus services standing in for the affected routes — Joo Koon to Queenstown on the East-West Line and Bukit Gombak to Jurong East on the North-South Line — some commuters said their trips were delayed slightly because they were not familiar with the new arrangements.

Assistant engineer Yap Duh Shyan, 40, usually gets rostered to work on Sundays about twice a month and boards the first train at Jurong East at about 6am for a 25-minute journey to his workplace at Admiralty. Yesterday, Mr Yap said the later train service hours caused some inconvenience as he needed to travel to Bukit Gombak by bus, then board the train. 

Having missed the first parallel bus service from Pioneer to Jurong East station, Ms San Yu, who works as a nurse at the Green Avenue Home for the Elderly in Aljunied, was running late for her shift at 6.30am. The 35-year-old said it usually takes her one hour by train from Pioneer to Aljunied station, but the waiting and travelling time for the parallel bus service added 20 minutes to her journey. 

And while the nursing home allowed employees to come to work later, Ms Yu said she wants to do her best to be on time for her elderly charges who need to take medication early in the morning.

SMRT announced in April that train services on Sundays would start an hour later at 7am starting from June 5 to give its teams more time to carry out track maintenance and renewal programmes. The arrangement will last until Dec 18.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday morning, SMRT’s project director of track infrastructure Roger Lim said the later train service hours double the window for crew to carry out work to 180 minutes.

“It is equivalent to one more productive night. So out of the 29 Sundays that are given to us from now until Dec 18, in fact we have (an) additional 29 days of productive time,” said Mr Lim.

What this means for the Rail Grinding Vehicle team — responsible for reshaping worn-out rails — is that it can cover twice the length of tracks in one night, said manager Tan Thong Han, 36. 

Access to the tracks on weekdays are limited due to other works being carried out, he noted.