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Thread: Circle Line to open fully in Q4

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    Default Circle Line to open fully in Q4

    http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...21348,00.html?

    Published January 12, 2011

    Circle Line to open fully in Q4

    $3.5b Tuas West Extension to be ready in 2016

    By SAMUEL EE


    THE Circle Line will be fully opened later this year, about two and a half years after the first stage of this orbital MRT line became operational.

    Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced this yesterday during a visit to the Bedok MRT station, one of the 11 elevated train stations which have completed the installation of half-height platform screen doors.

    A total of 36 elevated stations will get these platform doors.

    Mr Lim said the installation for the East-West Line will be finished by the third quarter of this year, while that for the North-South Line will be completed by 2012.

    Turning to the 29-station, 33 km-long Circle Line (CCL), Mr Lim said the final 12 stations from Marymount to HarbourFront will be opened in the fourth quarter of 2011.

    'The Circle Line extension from Promenade to Marina Bay Station will also be ready in 2012,' he added.

    To meet the projected increase in CCL ridership, 16 more trains will be added in 2015 to increase the total CCL fleet by 40 per cent.

    Mr Lim also revealed that the East-West Line will be extended from Joo Koon into Tuas West.

    'The Tuas West extension will be 7.5 km long,' he said, adding that the extension will help commuters save more than half their current travelling time.

    Currently, it takes about 35 minutes to travel by bus from Boon Lay Bus Interchange to Tuas West. When the MRT line is opened, it will take only 15 minutes.

    'The Land Transport Authority will be purchasing an additional 13 trains for the extension to maintain the service levels of the line,' said Mr Lim.

    The extension will cost $3.5 billion together with the extra trains, a new train depot and a new road viaduct.

    While the previous plan for the extension was to have only three stations, the minister said an additional station has now been included so that more commuters will be directly served by the MRT system. When ready in 2016, the Tuas West Extension is expected to serve 100,000 commuters daily.

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    http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_622683.html

    Jan 11, 2011

    Circle Line in west likely to open after June

    Contracts indicate the 12 stations are unlikely to open any sooner

    By Goh Chin Lian


    THE western arc of the Circle Line looks more likely to open in the latter half of this year than any time soon.

    This assessment is based on contracts the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has drawn up for some work for the line, although it would only say the opening date is expected to be some time this year.

    One indication that the 12 stations on the 31-station line will open in the second half of the year is the revised timeline it gave last month when commissioning a commemorative book on the fully underground line.

    Such books have been launched at the opening of major transport projects such as the North-East MRT Line and the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway.

    The Circle Line book will cover the milestones of building the line and recognise the contributions of key people.

    The LTA will give the publisher 27 weeks to produce the book from when it awards the contract, up from 23 weeks for previous books. It has yet to make public which of the three bidders has won the contract. This means the book is scheduled to be ready only after June.

    Another indication that the line is unlikely to open in the next few months is the LTA's plans for installing artwork at the stations.

    One of them is an interactive artwork at Kent Ridge station that allows commuters to send messages on their mobile phones, which are then converted into poems and projected on a screen.

    The LTA, which has yet to make public the winning bidder for the contract, has allocated three months for the installation to be done.

    It also gave a contractor five months from Dec 13 to install another artwork by artist Yek Wong at One-North station.

    Observers also note that the opening dates of the central and eastern sections of the Circle Line were both announced about three months in advance.

    The May 30, 2009 opening date for the central section, later revised to May28, was announced on Feb 12; the April 17, 2010 opening date for the eastern section was announced on Jan 26.

    The Circle Line is meant to ease crowding on existing lines, allowing people to bypass busy interchanges like Raffles Place and City Hall.

    It is also part of a push for more people to take public transport, in line with a government masterplan to reduce travelling times and avoid road congestion.

    Five stations on the line from Marymount to Bartley opened in May 2009, followed by 11 more from Dhoby Ghaut to Tai Seng in April last year.

    The 12 unopened stations from Caldecott to HarbourFront will serve popular spots like Holland Village, Botanic Gardens and the National University of Singapore, as well as offices like Biopolis and Fusionopolis at one-north.

    An extension to Marina Bay station on the North-South Line and Bayfront on the future Downtown Line is scheduled to be ready next year.

    One station planned for the line, Bukit Brown, will not be opened until the area around it is developed.

    All roads affected by the construction of the western stretch of the Circle Line since work there started in 2004 are scheduled to be reinstated by March, the LTA has said.

    It also told The Straits Times that it is in the process of obtaining temporary occupation permits for the stations.

    The permits allow the LTA to occupy the stations after meeting key regulatory requirements and signal the completion of building works, ahead of receiving formal certification.

    The Straits Times found the outer structure of the 12 stations in different stages of completion over the weekend.

    Some entrances, like the ones at Caldecott, Farrer Road and One-North stations, looked finished and cleaned up. The one at Botanic Gardens was still being landscaped, while that at Labrador Park station had only an outer frame without glass panels.

    The opening of more stations is expected to boost travel on the line. There were an average of 154,000 riders a day on the central and eastern sections as of September last year, up from 30,000 in 2009.

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    http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNew...ry_623021.html

    Jan 12, 2011

    4 new MRT stations in Tuas by 2016

    East-West line extension plans include a depot and road viaduct

    By Maria Almenoar


    UP TO 35 more minutes of sleep time.

    That is the good news for commuters when four stations added to the East-West MRT line open in 2016.

    News of the extension, costing $3.5 billion, to serve Tuas, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West and Tuas Link was announced yesterday by Transport Minister Raymond Lim after he viewed new platform screen doors at Bedok MRT station.

    He said the new link would improve accessibility and connectivity for people who work in Jurong and Tuas.

    Travelling from Ang Mo Kio to Tuas West, for example, now takes 1hr 40min by train and bus. Once the extension is up, the trip will take 1hr 5min, saving 35 minutes.

    The $3.5 billion will pay for the new stations, depot and trains as well as a road viaduct running parallel to the line.

    When completed in 2016, the 7.5km extension from Joo Koon station is expected to cater to 100,000 passengers daily.

    The East-West line, from Pasir Ris to Boon Lay, was fully opened in 1990. The extension, from Boon Lay to Joo Koon in 2009, now serves about 60,000 passengers daily.

    Initial studies of the Tuas West extension, first released in the Land Transport Masterplan in 2008, called for three stations but further studies found that an extra one would help cater to more commuters.

    Plans were also updated to include building a 26ha depot to house the extra trains the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is buying. The new depot - the fourth here - has room for 60 trains compared to Bishan depot's 37.

    The bigger space will be needed for the 22 new trains for the East-West line and 13 new ones for the Tuas West extension.

    The first of the 22 new trains was delivered this week.

    To make way for the new project, nine industrial properties will be acquired along with portions of 49 others.

    LTA chief executive Chew Hock Yong said while there was traffic congestion in Tuas during peak periods, it was not 'intolerable'.

    'The extension is about projecting ahead given the current economic growth and it is about us being ready in time for more workers taking up new jobs in the Tuas area,' he added.

    The road viaduct or overpass will serve as an alternative to Pioneer Road, the main thoroughfare in the area. It will have three lanes in both directions.

    Companies welcome news of the new stations. With Joo Koon MRT station quite some distance away, those who do not drive rely on their colleagues for a lift or book a taxi in advance.

    Many companies offer free shuttle services to staff in the morning and evening. At Compact Metal Industries in Tuas West, its 50 employees rely on three shuttle services.

    But with the new stations, Mr Por Choon Seng, its general manager, said the improved access would mean that they 'do not have to leave or reach the office only according to the shuttle times'.

    Said Mr B. Y. Yee, managing director (Asean) of chemical company BASF South-East Asia: 'It will also be easier to attract potential employees to work in Tuas, as some do hesitate due to the inaccessibility of the area.'

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    http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNew...ry_623051.html

    Jan 12, 2011

    Western arc of Circle Line to open by fourth quarter


    THE Botanic Gardens and areas with high human traffic such as Holland Village and the National University of Singapore (NUS) will be connected to the rail network by the fourth quarter of this year.

    Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced the completion date for 12 stations on the western arc of the 31-station Circle Line yesterday, after inspecting the new platform doors at Bedok MRT Station.

    The 12 stations from Caldecott to HarbourFront are expected to boost travel on the line. There were an average of 154,000 riders a day on the central and eastern sections of the line as of September last year, up from 30,000 in 2009.

    The Circle Line is intended to ease crowding on existing lines, as it allows commuters to bypass busy interchanges such as City Hall and Raffles Place.

    It is also meant to encourage more people to take public transport, in line with a government masterplan to reduce travelling times and avoid road congestion.

    Mr Vincent Lim, an NUS business student, anticipates his daily hour-long commute to be reduced by about 20 minutes when the Kent Ridge station opens.

    Said the 21-year-old, who lives in Bishan: 'It's going to be very convenient. I can take the train straight to school now, instead of going to HarbourFront and transferring to a bus.'

    The Land Transport Authority (LTA) also said it will add an additional 16 trains - increasing the number of trains on the Circle Line by 40 per cent - to cope with the projected increase in ridership. The new trains will be running by 2015.

    Only three stations on the line will not be open by the year end. Bayfront and Marina Bay will be ready by next year, while the Bukit Brown station will not open until the area around it is developed.

    The LTA has said that all roads affected by the construction of the western stretch of the Circle Line since work started in 2004 are scheduled to return to normal by March.

    ROYSTON SIM

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