Chinatown MRT Station

Chinatown MRT Station (NE4/DT19) is an interchange station connecting the North East Line (NEL) and the Downtown Line (DTL), located in the ethnic district of Chinatown. It is bordered by the Chinatown, People’s Park, Pearl’s Hill and China Square planning subzones.

Located at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and Upper Cross Street, the station brings rail connections to the densely built-up Chinatown district, where its modern architecture stands out from surrounding buildings with distinctly Chinese cultural elements.

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First / Last Train Timings

 

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Station Layout

L2	Garden Bridge	Overhead Bridge across Eu Tong Sen Street & New Bridge Road
L1	Street level	Bus Stops, Taxi Stand, Pick-Up/Drop-Off point
B1 (DTL)	DTL Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing Service Kiosks, Passenger Service Centre
B1 (NEL)	NEL Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing Service Kiosks, Passenger Service Centre, SimplyGo Ticket Office
B2 (DTL)	Transfer Linkway	Paid Link between DTL Platform C (B2) & NEL Platforms (B2) via Escalators
	Platform C	Downtown Line towards DT1–BP6 Bukit Panjang
	Platform D	Downtown Line towards DT35CG1 Expo
	Transfer Linkway	Paid Link between DTL Platform D (B2) & NEL Concourse (B1)
B2 (NEL)	Platform A	North East Line towards NE1CC29 HarbourFront
	Platform B	North East Line towards NE17PTC Punggol
	Transfer Linkway	Paid link between NEL Platforms (B2) & Downtown Line Platform C (B2) via Escalators

B2 on the DTL Station (Downtown Line Platforms) is on the same level as B1 on the NEL Station (NEL Concourse), and the NEL Platforms are in actual fact one level under the DTL platforms.

Platforms

Downtown Line (B2):

Platform C: Downtown Line towards DT1–BP6 Bukit Panjang via DT18 Telok Ayer (→)

Platform D: Downtown Line towards DT35CG1 Expo via DT20 Fort Canning (←)

North East Line (B2):

Platform A: North East Line towards NE1CC29 HarbourFront via NE3EW16TE17 Outram Park (→) Platform B: North East Line towards NE17PTC Punggol via NE5 Clarke Quay (←)

Chinatown station has four platforms; both rail lines are served by two each. While the NEL station uses a more conventional island platform layout, the DTL station uses a side platform arrangement.

Concourse

Both the NEL and DTL concourse are located at B1 level. However, the DTL concourse is technically one floor above the NEL concourse.

With both the DTL platform level (B2) and NEL concourse level (B1) technically on the same level, passengers can smoothly transfer from Platform D (DTL towards Expo) platform in use to the NEL concourse.

NEL Art in Transit: “The Phoenix’s-Eye Domain” by Tan Swie Hian

This outstanding collection of artworks comprises a resplendent wall mural depicting the arrival of Singapore’s early Chinese immigrants and three sets of rhyming couplets in semi-cursive Chinese calligraphy. The richly coloured mural, featuring the mythical phoenix is located at concourse level while the poems are rendered as floor calligraphy at concourse and platform level.

DTL Art in Transit: “Flying Colours” by Cheo Chai-Hiang

Flying Colours attempts to translate the mundane hanging of clothes to dry on poles outside windows into one which is festive and celebratory. Created in a lenticular format, commuters will experience the subtle changes in colours, giving the illusion that the clothes are flying in the wind as if in transit. The artwork spans the concourse and leads commuters to the platforms.

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Station Amenities

• Public toilets at NEL (B1) & DTL (B1) concourse
• Retail Shops at NEL (B1) concourse
• ATMs and Self-service machines
• Top Up Kiosks
• SimplyGo Ticket Office at NEL concourse

Exits

Chinatown MRT station has five exits at ground level (A, C, D, E, F), with only exits C and F offering barrier-free accessibility for the disabled via lifts.
An underground Exit G connects to Basement 1 of Chinatown Point with a wheelchair lift available for use.

Exit	Location	Nearby
A	Pagoda Street	Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, Chinatown Complex (Market & Food Centre), Chinatown Heritage Centre, Chinatown Visitor Centre, Kreta Ayer Community Club, Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, Lucky Chinatown, Masjid Jamae (Chulia), Sri Mariamman Temple, The URA Centre, New Bridge Road, Smith Street
C	People’s Park Complex	OG Building, Pearl’s Hill City Park, People’s Park Complex, The Majestic, Yue Hwa Building Lift to Street
D	People’s Park Centre	Family Justice Courts, Furama City Centre & Shopping Centre, Ministry of Manpower Building, People’s Park Centre, State Courts
E	Chinatown Point	Chinatown Point, Fook Hai Building, Hong Lim Complex, Counselling & Care Centre
F	Hong Lim Complex	Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, Chinatown Point, China Square Central, Chinatown Complex (Market & Food Centre), Chinatown Heritage Centre, Fook Hai Building, Great Eastern Centre, Hong Lim Park (Speaker’s Corner), Hong Lim Complex, Marsh & McLennan Centre, Masjid Jamae (Chulia), One Upper Pickering, One George Street, Parkroyal on Pickering, Sri Mariamman Temple, Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green Community Centre
G	Chinatown Point (Basement 1)	Chinatown Point

Note:

• Exit G (Chinatown Point Basement 1) is open 10.00am – 10.00pm daily.

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Transport Connections

Chinatown station connects to several bus stops in the vicinity, as well as taxi stands and passenger pick-up points at selected exits.

Bus

There are four official bus stops linked to Chinatown station. (additional bus stops are reflected here to better represent bus connections; these bus stops were previously indicated in the station locality maps at Chinatown station but were removed in an updated version)

No.	Bus stop	Exit	Bus Routes
B/s 1	05013 – Eu Tong Sen St (Chinatown Stn Exit C)	C	2, 12, 12e, 33, 61, 63, 80, 143, 197, 961, 961M, 970
B/s 2	05049 – New Bridge Rd (Chinatown Stn Exit E)	E	2, 12, 12e, 33, 54, 143, 147, 147A, 190
B/s 3	05022 – Eu Tong Sen St (Aft Chinatown Stn Exit D)	D	54, 124, 145, 147, 166, 190, 851, 851e
B/s 4	05129 – Upp Pickering St (Opp One Upp Pickering)	E	186, 970
—	05131 – Upp Cross St (Opp Hong Lim Cplx)	F	51, 63, 63A, 124, 174, 174e, 186, 851, 851e, 961, 961M, 970
—	05199 – South Bridge Rd (Opp Hong Lim Cplx)	F	61, 80, 145, 166, 197

Road

Taxi stands and pick-up/drop-off points are located next to station exits:

Exit	Road	Provisions
A	Mosque Street (Hse No. 50)	Taxi stand (D19)
A	Temple Street (beside Lucky Chinatown)	Taxi stand (D21)
C	Eu Tong Sen Street (outside The Majestic)	Pick-up/drop-off point
C	Park Cres (outside People’s Park Complex)	Taxi stand (D05)
D	Upper Cross Street (outside OG Building)	Taxi stand (D06)
E	Chinatown Point driveway	Taxi stand (D08), pick-up/drop-off point
F	Upper Cross Street (beside Blk 531 HDB CP entrance)	Pick-up/drop-off point

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MRT Bus Bridging Service

In the event of a MRT service disruption affecting Chinatown station, MRT Bridging Buses may be activated to ply affected stretches of the North East Line or Downtown Line. In which case, the buses can be boarded from the following bus stops:

Towards	Bus stop	Exit
North East Line (NEL Bridging Bus)
NE1CC29 HarbourFront	B/s 2: 05049 – New Bridge Rd (Chinatown Stn Exit E)	E
NE17PTC Punggol	B/s 1: 05013 – Eu Tong Sen St (Chinatown Stn Exit C)	C
Downtown Line (DTL Bridging Bus)
DT1–BP6 Bukit Panjang	B/s 4: 05013 – Upp Pickering St (Opp One Upp Pickering)	E
DT35CG1 Expo	B/s 3: 05022 – Eu Tong Sen St (Aft Chinatown Stn Exit D)	D

In addition, passengers can board free regular bus services at the following bus stops when activated:

• North East Line
  Bus Stops 1 & 2
• Downtown Line
  Bus Stops 3 & 4

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Passenger Usage Patterns

As an interchange station in the heart of the Chinatown cultural district, the station is well-utilized by many commuters heading in and out of the area, or transferring between the North East Line and Downtown Line. The station boasts an underground network of pedestrian walkways which brings much of the Chinatown district within convenient walking distance of the underground station. Various amenities in the vicinity include tourist attractions, shopping centres, offices and retail shops.

Construction

North East Line (NEL) Contract 709 for the Design and Construction of Chinatown Station was awarded to Gammon Construction – Econ Piling Joint-Venture (JV) on 23 June 1997 for S$141.5 million. The working name for Chinatown Station was People’s Park Station.

Downtown Line Stage 1 (DTL1) Contract 909 for the construction and completion of Chinatown Station and associated tunnels was awarded to Hong Kong company Gammon Construction Limited for approximately S$160.3 million.

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Gallery

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External Links & References

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