'This is my duty': Station staff, rail workers share how they went above and beyond during MRT disruptions
They faced a mammoth task of guiding commuters and fixing rails, but acts of kindness from strangers made their work worthwhile.
SINGAPORE: She was battling a persistent cough and pain in her knees, but Mdm Maswiyah Anwar still decided to persevere in providing commuters with directions and assistance at Buona Vista station during the first two days of the East-West Line train disruptions.
The part-time SMRT service ambassador was supposed to work only from 7am to 10.30am on Sep 25, but it turned out to be the fateful day that train services between Buona Vista and Jurong East stations came to a halt. And the 57-year-old ended up working till 9pm.
While there were long hours spent dealing with frustrated commuters, there were also uplifting moments that made her gruelling shifts worth it.
“Some of (the commuters) came up to me to motivate me and encourage me to stay strong,” she told CNA in an interview on Friday (Oct 4).“Because they saw me looking very tired.”
There were also many members of the public who passed her drinks and snacks. Even her son, 26-year-old Muhammad Faris, showed up.
His visit came as a surprise, shared Mdm Maswiyah.
“My family was trying to call me, but then I did not pick up, and so they were worried about me,” she said.
And so her son came with drinks and lozenges for Mdm Maswiyah and her colleagues.
Video of her son shared by CNA also garnered considerable attention online, with many commenters praising Mr Faris for being filial.
Asked what she thought of the comments, Mdm Maswiyah was initially at a loss for words.
“I don’t know what to say … I’m very touched to my heart, people now know about my son … some will come up to me and say ‘oh, your son, your son is very good to come down to help you and motivate you’,” she said.
Disruptions started on Sep 25 when a defective component known as an axle box dropped onto the tracks, causing a bogie - or an undercarriage with wheels - to come off the running rail between Dover and Clementi stations.
This resulted in extensive damage to the tracks and other equipment, disrupting MRT services between nine stations from Boon Lay to Queenstown.
Amid the disruptions, there were instances where members of the public showed their appreciation towards MRT station staff and other workers.
CNA saw staff holding umbrellas for members of the public taking bridging buses, and helping the elderly and disabled to get on buses.
Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said he was “heartened” to see members of public penning words of appreciation to the workers and providing them with food and drinks.
Despite some kind gestures, there were also moments of frustration and confusion from passengers that Mdm Maswiyah had to deal with.
In times like this, she has to remind herself to keep her emotions in check.
“I say to my heart, I have to relax, to calm down … just answer whatever it is the passenger is asking politely and nicely, and that is the way,” she said. “If not, I will also make them (more) angry.”
The long hours led to her cough worsening to a point where she lost her voice.
“I already felt on the first day that my voice was a bit uncomfortable, and on the second day, I could only work until 5pm, because I had totally no voice,” she said.
Her knees, which underwent surgery last year, also began to hurt badly.
“When I stand up for too long without sitting or resting, I feel very tired, and very heavy … that’s why I couldn’t continue,” she said.
It was only when she felt that she had reached her limit, before she decided to take a break over Friday and the weekend to recover.
But despite the toll on her health, she feels a renewed sense of purpose as she puts on her uniform for duty, even though normal train services have resumed.
“We are ready to serve at our best for the passengers, and we also have the strength to do the job, to ensure passengers are directed safely home, this is my duty,” she said.
LTA said on Wednesday it has begun a probe into the six-day disruption, and that investigations are expected to be completed in a few months.
WORKING ROUND THE CLOCK
Aside from staff and volunteers who had to direct confused commuters, there were also engineers who had to work round the clock to ensure the trains were up and running again.
Although he has over 40 years of experience with railway projects, the disruption on the East-West Line last week was the most severe one that construction manager Steve Hall has seen.
“I’ve seen a few similar scenarios, but not like this, over such a distance,” said Mr Hall, who is with China Railway First Group, who is currently working on the Thomson-East Coast Line stage 5.
The day after the initial disruption, he received a call from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), telling him he would be put in charge of the mammoth task of planning and coordinating rail replacement works on part of the affected stretch.
On Friday morning, he gathered about 50 workers to begin replacing tracks along an 800m stretch starting from Dover station towards Clementi. Over the weekend, the number of workers grew to about 300.
Being the man in charge, he had to be on the ground - literally. Over the weekend, he clocked about 70,000 steps walking on the affected tracks.
“The distance (we worked) was spread over nearly 800m, so there was a lot of going up, going down, or people calling,” said Mr Hall. “You end up doing 10km, 12km every day.”
His personal life and plans for the weekend were turned upside down - he would be home after midnight, and headed back to the tracks early in the morning.
Mr Hall slept for only about four hours a night during that period, and even had to take his phone into the shower to make sure he didn’t miss any messages.
“The weekend is normally family time,” he said. “But in this line of work … it has become sort of a normal thing, if I have to work, I have to work.”
At the tracks, the biggest challenge the workers faced was the heat, he said.
“You’d think when you’re up higher, you’ll get the breeze, but people don’t realise that the area we were working at has the new noise barriers, so there’s no breeze, you’re stuck in a suntrap,” he said.
“So it was much hotter than normal.”
On top of that, the welding work added to the heat.
His phone worked almost as hard - consuming the power of two portable chargers a day as he maintained communications with various teams.
And then on Saturday evening, just as the initial repair works were about to be completed, he received bad news. Twelve new cracks along an 800m stretch were found on unreplaced rail segments that had been weakened by the faulty train.
Authorities had initially said they were working towards full restoration of services on Sep 30, but because of the cracks, the target date was moved to Oct 1.
While many would be demoralised, Mr Hall remained stoic.
“I was told to mobilise my men again, so at 7.30am (on Sunday) morning, I quickly started to mobilise, and then I got my men sorted and back into work on Sunday afternoon,” he said.
But like Mdm Maswiyah, he felt the care from members of the public and various organisations that chipped in with food and drinks.
“(The workers) were being looked after … there was food coming from all directions, I don’t know which people were providing the food, whether it was SMRT, or LTA,” he said.
Most memorable for him was someone who delivered burgers to his team.
“I don’t know who she was, but she just gave me 12 fish burgers,” he said.
When asked how he felt on Tuesday morning when the trains were back on the tracks with no incident, he would only say: "Relief."
