Longer peak-hour commutes on Circle Line amid platform closures

The week was off to a rough start for Ms Nora Ismail – she needed to be in the office by 8.20am to prepare for a meeting, but she was about 15 minutes late.

At 8.10am on the first weekday after service changes on the Circle Line (CCL) kicked in on Jan 20 to accommodate platform closures at Telok Blangah and HarbourFront MRT stations, the 43-year-old legal secretary was still at Labrador Park station facing a seven-minute wait to switch trains to get to HarbourFront.

Ms Nora’s journey from her home in Jurong East to her workplace in HarbourFront used to take around one hour, but will now take about 75 minutes.

One platform each at the two stations will be closed from Jan 20 to May 24. A shuttle train service now runs between HarbourFront and Labrador Park, the stop after Telok Blangah, at 10-minute intervals.

This translates to longer travel times for passengers travelling in both directions.

These changes, announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and rail operator SMRT in October 2023, are to facilitate track works to connect Stage 6 of CCL – comprising three stations between HarbourFront and Marina Bay – to the HarbourFront CCL station, closing the loop for the line.

An average of 43,000 passengers will be affected daily, said LTA and SMRT.

Additionally, CCL trains will turn back towards Marina Bay alternately at Kent Ridge and Labrador Park stations, instead of HarbourFront, to maintain peak-hour intervals at the busy stretch from Kent Ridge to Paya Lebar.

During peak hours, trains running between Kent Ridge and Labrador Park will arrive at five-minute intervals.

Based on The Straits Times’ checks at Labrador Park, Telok Blangah and HarbourFront stations from 7am to 10am on the morning of Jan 22, the peak-hour situation was orderly and calm, with staff on standby to control crowds.

Ten out of 26 travellers ST spoke to said they were inconvenienced by the slight delays, and would be 10 to 15 minutes late for work or school.

Among them was Miss Sin Si En, 24, who was travelling towards HarbourFront to get to her workplace in Potong Pasir via a transfer to the North-East Line.

The quantity surveyor said she would leave her home in Pasir Panjang earlier, before 8am, for the next few months, as she would need to factor in longer wait times – compared with the original train intervals of about three minutes – for the shuttle train service at Labrador Park station.

Mr William Leong, 36, was affected as he had to wait for a train transfer at Labrador Park to get to Kent Ridge from Telok Blangah.

The programme manager had seen the notices displayed at the MRT stations about the changes, but did not understand them.

He added that it would be better if LTA highlighted the “key points” for passengers to understand how they will be affected, instead of the large chunks of information now.

However, some passengers were not too affected by the changes.

Mr Ignatius Goh was heading to his workplace in one-north from his home in Telok Blangah.

The 27-year-old data analyst said the extra wait time “was not a big deal” to him, adding that he was willing to leave his home five to 10 minutes early to reach work on time.

Housewife Prague Khandelwal, 31, said it was easy for her to navigate the service adjustments with “lots of people around to help”.

While she did not know how to get to her destination after being ushered off the train at Telok Blangah, the station staff patiently directed her to wait for the train shuttle service bound for HarbourFront, where she could hop on the North-East Line to Little India.

ST counted nearly 10 SMRT employees each at Labrador Park, Telok Blangah and HarbourFront stations.

Some announced the travel direction of each arriving train using speakers and signs, some addressed passengers’ queries, while others ushered people on and off trains.

Queues were observed for the shuttle train service between Labrador Park and HarbourFront, but there was enough room to allow most passengers to board.

Additionally, ST observed that the express shuttle bus service between HarbourFront and Kent Ridge had only some passengers, with around five to 20 people boarding each double-decker bus from 8.15am to 8.50am.

These buses, which have been specially catered as an alternative to the CCL, are running at intervals of 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours on weekdays between 6am and 10am, and from 5pm to 9pm.