Hougang MRT Station

Hougang MRT Station (NE14) is an underground station along the North East Line (NEL), located within the Hougang Central planning subzone. The station sits underneath Hougang Central Bus Interchange, serving the town centre and surrounding HDB flats and shopping centres.

Hougang is the romanized version of Au-kang, which meant name “river end” in Hokkien and Teochew, in reference to the area located upstream of the Sungei Serangoon river. The station serves the town centre area, including the Hougang Mall, nearby community amenities, and large numbers of residential developments. Bus services are offered from the Hougang Central Bus Interchange, connecting to other parts of the estate.

By 2030, Hougang station will be an interchange station with the Cross Island Line (CRL), with the station code NE14CR8.

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First / Last Train Timings

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Station Layout

L1	Street Level	Hougang Central Bus Interchange, Bus stops, Taxi stand, Pick-up/drop-off point, Retail Shops
B1	Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing machines, Passenger Service Centre, Ticket Office, Retail Shop
B2	Platform A	North East Line towards NE1CC29 HarbourFront
	Platform B	North East Line towards NE17PTC Punggol

Platforms (B2):

Platform A: North East Line towards NE1CC29 HarbourFront via NE13 Kovan (→) Platform B: North East Line towards NE17PTC Punggol via NE15 Buangkok (←)

Hougang station has two platforms in an island platform arrangement, with both platforms utilized for trains travelling in either direction. Full-height Platform screen doors isolate the air-conditioned station from the tunnel environment, enhancing commuter safety and station comfort. With the concourse level wrapping around the platform, the ceiling is two floors high at platform level, conveying a spacious feel. A set of escalators, stairs and lifts connect to the concourse above.

Passenger Information Systems, which are plasma display screens located at each platform, display expected train arrival times and key messages. Tactile flooring helps to guide the visually-handicapped from the platform to the station exits.

Cross Island Line (Basement):

• Eastbound: Towards CR2 Aviation Park via CR7 Defu
• Westbound: Towards CR13TE7 Bright Hill via CR9 Serangoon North

Concourse

The concourse features faregates for automatic fare collection and provides access between paid and unpaid areas of the station, with at least one bidirectional wide-swinging gate for the benefit of passengers-in-wheelchairs and those carrying bulky items or travelling with prams. An unpaid corridor runs between both ends of the station, allowing pedestrians to commute between station exits without having to enter the rail network.

General Ticketing Machines allow commuters to purchase tickets for single or multiple journeys, and along with Top-up Machines, offer contactless card transactions. The station office functions as a Passenger Service Centre, and is staffed during operating hours, where commuters may make travel inquiries.

Art in Transit: “Hands Up for Hougang” by Seck Yok Ying

Hougang station showcases community art at its best with a work made from the handprints of 3000 people from babies to grandmothers, foreign workers to community leaders. Originally imprinted in wet clay, these handprints were later transferred onto concrete wall panels and arranged in a seamless sequence by the artists. An informal yet artistic cluster of seats reinforces the friendly feel of the station at platform level.

Civil Defence shelter

Hougang NEL station is one of thirteen stations along the North East Line designated as Civil Defence (CD) shelters, which will be activated in times of national emergency. Apart from reinforced construction, the stations are designed and equipped with facilities to ensure the shelter environment is tolerable for all shelterees during shelter occupation. These facilities include protective blast doors, decontamination facilities, ventilation systems, power and water supply systems and a dry toilet system.

Station Amenities

• Retail Shops at Concourse Level & Street Level
• Public Toilets at Street Level, Exit B
• Bicycle Racks
• TransitLink Ticket Office
  Operating Hours: 1200hrs – 1930hrs (Daily)

Exits

Hougang MRT station has three exits leading to ground level (A, B and C), two of which provide barrier-free accessibility for the disabled.

Exit	Location	Nearby
A	Bus Interchange	Hougang Central Bus Interchange, Hougang Polyclinic, Hougang Sports Hall, Hougang Swimming Complex, Hougang Stadium, Holy Innocents Primary School
B	Hougang Central	Hougang Mall, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (Main Office), Punggol Park, Holy Innocents’ High School
C	Hougang Avenue 10	Punggol Community Club, Hougang Polyclinic, Hougang Sports Hall, Hougang Swimming Complex, Hougang Stadium, Montfort Junior & Secondary School

 

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Transport Connections

Hougang station connects to Hougang Central Bus Interchange, several bus stops in the vicinity, along with a taxi stand and passenger pick-up point.

Bus

The station is linked to Hougang Central Bus Interchange and two nearby bus stops. Additional bus stops are added to better reflect transport connections.

No.	Bus stop	Exit	Bus Routes
Hougang Central Bus Interchange		A	27, 51, 74, 89, 89e, 102, 107, 107M, 112, 113, 116, 132, 147, 151, 153, 161, 165, 324, 325, 329
B/s 1	64541 – Hougang Ctrl (Hougang Ctrl Int)	A	72, 80, 87, 101
B/s 2	64549 – Hougang Ctrl (Opp Hougang Ctrl Int)	C	72, 80, 87, 101
–	64381 – Hougang Ave 10 (Hougang Stn Exit C)	C	27, 62, 80, 82, 87, 89, 89e, 113, 161, 325
–	64389 – Hougang Ave 10 (Blk 522)	C	27, 62, 80, 82, 87, 89, 89e, 113, 161, 325

Road

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

Exit	Road	Provisions
B	Hougang Central	Taxi stand (G12), pick-up/drop-off point

Rail Bridging Services

In the event of a MRT service disruption affecting Hougang station, rail bridging services (also called MRT breakdown shuttle buses) may be activated to ply affected stretches of the North East Line. In which case, the buses can be boarded from the following bus stops:

Towards	Bus stop	Exit
North East Line
NE1CC29 HarbourFront	Hougang Central Bus Interchange (Berth B4)	A
NE17PTC Punggol	Hougang Central Bus Interchange (Berth B6)	A

In addition, passengers can board free regular bus services at Hougang Central Bus Interchange when activated.

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Passenger Usage Patterns

Serving the Hougang town centre area along with nearby commercial developments, community amenities, and large numbers of residential developments, Hougang station encounters high demand throughout the day.

Construction Trivia

North East Line (NEL) Contract 703 for the Design and Construction of Hougang and Kovan stations and tunnels was awarded to Samsung Corporation of Korea on 28 May 1997 for S$214.8 million.

Hougang Cross Island Line Station will be constructed as part of Contract CR112 – Design and Construction of Hougang Interchange Station and Tunnels which was awarded to Samsung C&T Corporation at a total contract value of $604 million in March 2021.

Future Developments

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Major Incidents

Bomb Hoax

On 12 August 2005, Train services were disrupted for several hours when a white box was found with a label that advised if the box was found that it should be untouched and left alone, leading passengers to believe it contained an explosive device. The culprit, Liu Tze Yuen, 42, a Chinese male, also left a similar package on Bus Service 151 the previous month (July 7) and on Bus Service 143 a month later (August 12). He was later sentenced to 3.5 years in jail.

On 2 April 2017, an unattended bag caused an evacuation and subsequent 1.5-hour shutdown of the station. Chinese National Wang Jianpo, a 39-year-old male construction worker, had left his luggage on the platform while running an errand. He was arrested at Hougang Station on the same day and later charged with causing a public nuisance. During the closure, trains in both directions skipped Hougang Station, and free bus boarding was activated between Kovan and Buangkok Stations. Wang was later fined S$1000 for “causing annoyance to the public”.

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Gallery

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External Links & References

• LTA Awards Civil Contract for Design and Construction of Hougang Interchange Station and Tunnels for the Cross Island Line Phase 1 – Land Transport Authority