2019 Year in Review

Continuing our expansion of the rail network, NS12 Canberra along the North South Line was opened on 2 November 2019. Part of the North South Line was closed for 3 days in May 2019 to facilitate the construction of the crossover north of the station,

New stations and train lines were also announced this year.  Joining the North South Line is Brickland and Sungei Kadut stations, which are expected to be completed in the mid-2030s. The Downtown Line will be extended from its original northern terminal at Bukit Panjang to serve Sungei Kadut station.

Hume MRT Station (DT4), a shell station as part of Downtown Line Stage 2,would open around 2025,

While the first stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line will open in end-January 2020, an extension of the currently under-construction line has been announced. The TEL will be extended from its original terminal at TE31DT37 Sungei Bedok station to CG2 Changi Airport, passing through the future Terminal 5, and eventually connect to Expo and Tanah Merah stations. As such, the existing Changi Branch Line will be converted to become part of the Thomson-East Coast Line.

The first phase of the Cross Island Line (CRL) was announced in January, with 12 stations slated to open by 2029. It will also connect to Punggol by 2031, as announced in the LTMP 2040. Concluding a 6-year debate, the Ministry of Transport announced that the CRL will be routed via the Direct Alignment option under the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR). The other Skirting Alignment option involved the CRL tracks to be dug around the CCNR at a higher cost.

Rail Renewal Work

Bukit Panjang LRT Overhaul

As part of the Bukit Panjang LRT Overhaul, BP14 Ten Mile Junction station was closed from 13 January 2019 to provide LTA and Bombardier with additional space to conduct the renewal work of the BPLRT system. Bukit Panjang LRT Service C from Ten Mile Junction which loops around Bukit Panjang was also terminated.

In addition, daily early closures for the Bukit Panjang LRT Line at 11:30pm started on the same day.

From 1 December 2019, Bukit Panjang LRT Service A was amended to operate only during peak hours (Start of Service – 9:00am & 5:00pm – 8:00pm) on Weekdays, except Public Holidays as part of the overhaul works. Service B (via Petir) continued to operate for the entire day daily.

Early Closures & Late Opening

Early Closures & Late Opening of the MRT & LRT network continued throughout 2019 to allow for more engineering hours.

Legend: EC = Early Closure; LO = Late Opening; LI = Longer Train Service Intervals

Shuttle Bus Services were activated to serve the affected stations, except during the single loop late openings for Sengkang & Punggol LRT and periods of Longer Train Service Intervals.

See Also

• 2018 Year in Review
• 2019 Outlook for Public Transport