airport can't express

Yesterday I took the MRT to the airport (don't worry, not flying off this time round). When going to the airport by rails, one has to transfer to another train at Tanah Merah Interchange. So as my East-bound train pulled into the station, I saw the airport-bound train already at the middle platform. When the train I was on fully came to a stop, the airport-bound train had already closed its doors. I walked across the platform, half hoping that the other train would open its doors again to take in the transfer passengers, but instead it sped off.

There is nothing wrong with train driver following schedule strictly, I'm just wondering could there be some flexibility? It was not just one or two small crabs like me, but quite a crowd transferring to the airport line. And I understand that there are CCTV screens for the driver to see if there are trains at the other platforms so as to facilitate transfer. Shrug.

Then it makes me wonder, do they actually encourage tourists to use public transport when going to and fro the airport? As far as I know there are no dedicated mode of transport serving the airport (maybe except taxi). Imagine taking the MRT and transferring at Tanah Merah, it would be lucky day to find a seat with no one staring at your luggages (and deciding if they should call the police cos you look like a big bad terrorist), or taking the bus and stopping at every bus stop picking up students and workers.

In many other airports they have something called the airport express. With luggage racks and comfortable seats, these trains take passenger right into the heart of the city from the airport, with no stops in between. Some of these were built parallel alongside existing rail lines, so they won't jam up the capacity like bandwidth hogging. I will be happy enough if there is a non-stop train that takes me direct from the airport to the CBD (say, City Hall Interchange), and leave me to my nonsense after that. Not likely to happen though.