Five students out of the whole primary six cohort across Singapore were late for the 2024 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) due to the train disruptions on the East-West Line (EWL).

This was among the 41,000 candidates who took the PSLE English and Foundation English written examinations on Sep. 26.

"They arrived before the end of the paper and were given time to settle down and for the full duration of the paper," the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said in response to Mothership's queries.

"Of the five candidates, one sat for the examination in a different examination centre."

Will not be penalised

SEAB said on Sep. 25 that students taking the PSLE written examinations from Sep. 26 to Oct. 2 "will not be penalised for being late to their examinations due to train service disruptions".

According to a SEAB spokesperson, affected students will be given the full duration of the paper if they reach the examination centre before the end of the paper.

The spokesperson added that there are existing arrangements for such situations and that students have been briefed.

Candidates are also advised to contact their schools if they are affected by the train disruption, and SEAB will work with the schools to support the candidates.

Second day of train disruption

On Sep. 25 at around 9am, a Kawasaki Heavy Industries train which has been in service for over 35 years developed a fault while travelling near Clementi station towards the east on the EWL.

A power trip occurred at 9:25am as the train was being withdrawn, causing trains between Queenstown and Boon Lay stations to stall.

850 passengers had to be detrained and were led back to Clementi station via the train tracks.

"Our preliminary assessment is that when the damaged train was being withdrawn, it caused damage to the tracks, including the running rails and the third rail supplying power to the train," a Land Transport Authority (LTA) spokesperson said.

It was announced on Sep. 25 at 9:27pm that there would be no train service between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations.

Free regular and bridging bus services will be available between Boon Lay and Queenstown stations.

Shuttle trains will also run between Boon Lay and Jurong East, and Buona Vista and Queenstown.

As of 3:59pm on Sep. 26, there are still no train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista.

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Top photos from Chan Chun Sing/Facebook and Mothership