| Marina Bay Temporary Maintenance Facility | |
 Marina Bay Temporary Maintenance Facility siding (April 2021) |
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| Location | Beside Marina Bay CCL station |
| Line Served | Â Downtown Line |
| Status | Decommissioned; Converted into linkway |
| Type | Underground |
The Marina Bay Temporary Maintenance Facility (MBTMF) was a former underground light maintenance facility that previously served Downtown Line (DTL) trains. It was located adjacent to Marina Bay MRT station, with entrance and ventilation structures located along Bayfront Avenue, near Exit A of Marina Bay station.
The facility underwent decommissioning works in 2021, converting it into an underground linkway. On 1 November 2023, this new linkway opened, connecting the Circle Line concourse with a new Exit 5 of Marina Bay station.
History
When the Downtown Line Stage 1 (Bugis–Chinatown) opened in 2013, the line did not yet have a dedicated depot. Its main depot, Gali Batu Depot, was still under construction and would only be connected to the Stage 1 line upon the opening of Stage 2 (Bukit Panjang–Bugis) in 2015. During this interim period, major maintenance for DTL trains was carried out at Kim Chuan Depot / Tai Seng Facility Building, while light maintenance activities were undertaken at the Marina Bay Temporary Maintenance Facility.
The MBTMF was constructed as part of the Circle Line (CCL)‘s Marina Bay station infrastructure. To access the facility, Downtown Line trains used a crossover at Bayfront, allowing them to cross over to CCL tracks. Shunting movements were likely conducted outside of passenger service hours and may have involved the use of Circle Line rolling stock or locomotives, or the operation of Downtown Line trains in Restricted Manual mode, due to differences in the signalling systems used on the two lines.
It is not known whether the MBTMF remained in use after the commissioning of Downtown Line Stage 2 and the opening of Gali Batu Depot in 2015, after which the facility would been redundant.
Location
The facility is located adjacent to the Northbound platform (Platform A) of Marina Bay CCL station.
| (Former) Marina Bay Temporary Maintenance Facility |
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| Platform A: Circle Line towards CC6 Stadium via CE1DT16 Bayfront (→) Circle Line towards CC29NE1 Harbourfront via CE1DT16 Bayfront (Peak Hours) (→) Platform B: Circle Line towards CC6 Stadium via CE1DT16 Bayfront (→) Circle Line towards CC29NE1 Harbourfront via CE1DT16 Bayfront (Peak Hours) (→) |
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Decommissioning
From 18 April to 1 June 2021, SMRT announced that work was being carried out to remove the tracks leading to the temporary maintenance facility, as they were “no longer in use”. To facilitate these works, only one platform at Marina Bay station was in operation from 15 May to 1 June 2021.
Present Use
Rolling stock:
MBTMF formerly maintained C951Â trains for the Downtown Line.
Gallery:
MBTMF lies along the west edge of CCL Marina Bay station.
External Links & References:
- World Buildings Directory – Marina Bay Station (archive.org) [Accessed 15 Apr 2021]
- SMRT C830C [848]: Marina Bay → Bayfront – YouTube [Accessed 15 Apr 2021]
You are wondering, What is happening to it now? They are turning it into a unpaid connection between the CCL station and Exit 5.
Due to the complexity in transferring the DTL trains between the DTL and CCL at Bayfront station, and manually driving the DTL trains to the temporary maintenance facility at CCL Marina Bay station, as well as the fact that the DTL system was still new then and require minimal maintenance,
It is likely that the DTL trains then (probably just a small number) were parked at the DTL network during non-service hours, at that time when there was only DTL stage 1,
and it was only when a DTL train needs to undergo heavy maintenance that the DTL train would go through the hassle to be maintained at the temporary maintenance facility at the CCL Marina Bay station.
I never knew its existence lmao