ABSOLUTE mayhem. People packed liked sardines in buses. Commuters running about trying to get a toehold
in already cramped buses. Traffic jams as shuttle buses clog the roads as they try to move passengers.

It was a nightmare start to the week for some 57,000 commuters, no thanks to a major disruption of train services yesterday morning.

At times the situation was so dire that commuters had to wait for seven or more trains to get on one.

The SMRT said in a statement that "the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei (westbound) MRT stations".

But that did little to quell the anger of passengers. For them, it was sheer frustration which lasted seven long hours.

One such passenger was Monica Yong, who was caught in the chaos at Tampines at 7.40am.

She sent one MMS to the Straits Time Online Media Portal (Stomp).

Describing it as "absolute mayhem", she said she had to vie with other passengers to get on to a relief bus.

She added that the "people were packed like sardines".

In the end it took her about 90 minutes to get to her workplace in Robinson Road when it usually takes 30 minutes.

She also didn't have many kind words for SMRT's crisis management.

"I understand such things do happen, but they could have been better prepared," she said.

Equally upset was a Stomper who wanted to be known only as B Fox.

He wanted to know what SMRT can do to save commuters the hassle of waiting and rushing whenever there's a breakdown in train services.

"How can we find out if there is a breakdown of train service from the media and not be stuck waiting for a train, without getting crushed by the wave of people trying to get on board the next available train?

"People had to wait for seven or more trains before getting on," the Stomper exclaimed.

Bank executive Jonathan, 40, who also sent a photo of the crowd at Tampines MRT Station to Stomp, said: "There was a massive crowd gathering around the station. Policemen and MRT staff were directing people to take the shuttle bus to Tanah Merah Station."

Many questioned the viability of the crisis management.

Stomper ehonda897 suggested that SMRT could have sent "more taxis to the area" so that those who preferred to take the cabs could do so.

In their statement, SMRT said they tried to inform passengers of the disruption through various channels like train and station announcements and even broadcast channels.

It added that passengers ?who were unable to complete their journeys due to the disruption can claim a full fare refund from the Passenger Service Centre in any of the 51 SMRT stations, within the next three working days (from today till Friday).

Even that didn't cut much ice with the clearly furious passengers.

Stomper crucibond said: "What (do you mean by offering) a full fare refund? What about the time we wasted?"

During the delay, eastbound trains were turned around at Tanah Merah MRT station, while 70 buses were deployed to ferry stranded commuters between Pasir Ris, Tampines, Simei and Tanah Merah stations.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that the train service has been disrupted.

The first was on Jan 10 at Boon Lay MRT station, also at around 5.30am, which lasted for two hours.