Two more MRT lines by 2030

Two new rail lines will be built and three existing lines extended to improve the coverage of Singapore's rail network.

The rail network will be doubled by 2030, from the current 178 km to about 360 km, placing 8 out of 10 households within a ten-minute walk of a train station. The improvements will support Singapore's long-term development and ensure the network will have more than the capacity needed to meet the expected increase in public transport ridership in the next two decades.

Announcing this during a visit to the Downtown Line 1's Chinatown station yesterday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said the Cross Island Line (CRL) will be a major MRT line running across "the span of Singapore".

Starting from Changi, the CRL will pass through Loyang, Pasir Ris, Hougang and Ang Mo Kio, before reaching Sin Ming. The roughly 50 km line will serve areas such as Bukit Timah, Clementi and West Coast, and terminate at Jurong Industrial Estate. It will be ready by 2030.

The other new line is the 20 km-long Jurong Region Line (JRL), due to open around 2025. It will provide greater connectivity to areas such as Jurong West, Jurong Industrial District, West Coast, Choa Chu Kang and new developments in Tengah. These areas will be connected to main activity nodes in Boon Lay, Jurong East and the future Jurong Gateway.

In addition, Mr Lui said the government will extend the Circle Line, the North-East Line and the Downtown Line (DTL).

The gap in the Circle Line - between Harbour Front and Marina Bay Station - will be closed with Circle Line Stage 6 (CCL6).

"CCL6 will provide another avenue for commuters in the west to travel directly to the CBD," he said. "With the new stations on the CCL6 and Thomson Line, we estimate that more than 90 per cent of buildings in the CBD will be within 400 metres of an MRT station by around 2025."

DTL3 will also be extended, connecting the Downtown Line, East-West Line and Eastern Region Line.

"This extension strengthens the resilience of our rail network, as commuters can more easily re-route themselves in the event of a disruption," said Mr Lui.

As for the North-East Line, it will be extended by one station to serve Punggol North and future residents there.

He said: "This will make Punggol North an even more attractive location to stay and work, which is part of the government's overall de-centralisation strategy."

When the new projects are completed, Mr Lui said the 360 km rail network will trump that of Tokyo or Hong Kong today, and comparable to New York City.

"Many more households will be served by the rail network, and about eight in 10 households will then be within a 10-minute walk of a train station," said Mr Lui.

During his visit to Chinatown Station, the minister said DTL1 is on track to open by the end of this year, with DTL2 and DTL3 also on schedule for completion in 2015 and 2017.

"The Downtown Line, at 42 km in length, will be the most significant line to be added to our rail network since we started our MRT journey in the 1980s," he said. "It will also be the first of the new MRT lines resulting from the Land Transport Masterplan (LTMP) 2008, in which we mapped out our plans to double our rail network from 138 km then, to about 280 km by around 2020."

But while progress has been made in the five years since the launch of LTMP 2008, Mr Lui said a review was necessary because much more remains to be done. This is because of further changes to the environment due to a growing population and economy, changing commuter expectations and norms, and even tighter land constraints.

Source: Business Times –18 January 2013