Decommissioning of the second-generation North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) trains, the Siemens C651, began sometime in late 2020. Nineteen of these second-generation trains were built, and they entered service in 1995 on the North-South Line (NSL) and East-West Line (EWL).
Trains are scrapped locally at Toyotron Pte Ltd, with all retired trains sent for scrapping by 30 Nov 2024.
Cancelled Mid-Life Upgrading
Mid-life upgrading works were slated for the C651 trains, and was first carried out on Train Sets 217/218 and 227/228 between 2015 and 2018. However, leading up the transition to the New Rail Financing Framework (NRFF) in August 2016, the LTA would eventually make decisions on building-up, replacement and upgrading of assets. Coupled with changes in SMRT Corporation’s management structure, the mid-life upgrading of C651 trains was abruptly discontinued, and planned refurbishments to the C151 were thus precluded.
LTA announced its intention to replace the first-generation C151 trains with brand-new ones in September 2016, with Bombardier (now Alstom) being awarded the R151 contract in July 2018. C651 trains would later follow suit, with an announcement in September 2020 that more R151 trains would be procured to replace C651 trains.
Scrapping of Unrefurbished Trains
Trains are scrapped locally at Toyotron Pte Ltd, which was awarded the disposal contract for C151 trains (Contract R151D). The scrapping of C651 trains would have likely been carried out under similar contract terms.
The transporting of decommissioned trains takes place at night, from Tuas Depot to Toyotron’s premises at Gul Drive. Auxiliary police escorts are required for the transport of oversized loads by road.
The first known C651 trainset to be scrapped was trainset 203/204, which was spotted being transported to a scrapyard in Tuas on the wee hours of Sunday, 6 September 2020.
https://twitter.com/Tx_2171F/status/1302340805152006144
Preserved Trains
Train car 3230 (from Set 230) was announced to be preserved by the Singapore Police Force for training purposes in August 2021. On 28 August 2021, train cars 3229 & 1229 (from Set 229) was observed to be transported elsewhere, while car 2229 (from Set 229) was sent to the scrapyard.
4 carriages (cars 3229, 1229, 3230 & 1230) were spotted in the premises of Starburst Engineering Pte Ltd, 6 Tuas View Circuit in 2022 undergoing retrofitting works.
National Museum Preservation
As part of the “Collecting Contemporary Singapore” initiative, several train parts from a C651 Train were acquired by the National Museum of Singapore in July 2024 in collaboration with SMRT and LTA. These train parts are:
- Two set of train doors
- A pair of seats
- Two MRT Train System Maps
Based on the cna article, the train parts were from a train that was “decommissioned around February this year” (2024).
The train doors may have come from train car 3215, which was sent for scrap in April 2024 with two sets of train doors missing.
Cars 3237 & 3238
Cars 3237 & 3238 were not sent for scrapping along with the other carriages of the trainset on 27 Nov & 30 Nov 2024 respectively.
Gallery: Scrapping of Unrefurbished Trains
Set 211
Set 212
Scrapping of Refurbished Trains
Set 225
See also
The final C651, 237/238 is now sent for scrap. Thank you for 29 years of service, C651s! (1995-2024)
All refurbished C651 trains have been scrapped with none of them preserved.
I have a good idea! CR651: a CR151 interior by Bombardier and the rest by Siemens.
Very sad, what a waste
I think they will just replace the C651 with additional orders to existing CR151, save down further costs with fleet commonality and spare parts cost.
That’s what they will be doing.
I’ll think yes. The massive buying of cars for DTL and TEL isn’t shocking. They are replacing all three earlier batches of trains to Bombardier CR151.
However, I predict the C151A and C151B to be shifted more into EWL. EWL is using older rolling trains.