Putting aside the issue of yet another military honcho taking over the reins of SMRT despite having little to no experience of running a public transport company, Singaporeans will have to contend with major changes to the North-South Line (NSL) train services next month.
Railway maintenance and improvement works came for the East-West Line, and now they’re coming to the red line in May. It would involve seven MRT stations — all the way from Khatib to Novena — shutting down earlier and opening later. Stations along that stretch will close at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays and have late openings at 8am on Saturdays and Sundays. MRT stations not in that stretch won’t be affected and will continue to operate with regular hours.
The longer downtime hours would be a great help to SMRT’s engineering and maintenance team, according to the transport company. “The additional hours will more than double the available time for engineering teams to intensify maintenance and accelerate rectification works along the NSL’s MRT tracks.”
To help with the commuting, SMRT will also be launching a temporary shuttle service between Yishun and Newton and another one between Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon. “Commuters are also reminded to cater for additional travel time when using the shuttle bus services,” SMRT wrote in their press release, advising commuters to stay updated on changes in timing to train operations via social media and its website.
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