| CC5 Nicoll Highway 尼诰大道 | நிக்கல் நெடுஞ்சாலை |
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| Address | 20 Republic Avenue, Singapore 038970 |
| Line Served | Circle Line |
| Operator | SMRT Trains |
| Structure | Underground |
| Platform | Island |
| Opened | 17 Apr 2010 |
Nicoll Highway MRT Station (CC5) is an underground station along the Circle Line (CCL). It is built underneath Republic Avenue and located adjacent to Nicoll Highway, serving developments in the Beach Road area and the Marina Promenade park.
The station gets its name from Nicoll Highway, a major arterial road linking the Kallang area to the City. The station is also synonymous with Singapore’s worst civil engineering accident in recent history, when a retaining wall collapsed during construction. The resulting cave-in collapse killed four people and injured three, and delayed the opening of Circle Line Stages 1 and 2.
The current station lies about 100 metres away from the original station underneath Nicoll Highway, which was abandoned after the Nicoll Highway collapse. A detailed write-up is at the bottom of this article.
First / Last Train Timings
| Circle Line – (CC5) Nicoll Highway |
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| Destination | First Train | Last Train | |
| Weekdays & Sat | Sun & Public Holidays | Daily | |
| CC1 Dhoby Ghaut | 5:48am | 6:15am | 11:57pm |
| CC29 HarbourFront | 5:45am | 6:12am | 10:56pm |
| CC26 Pasir Panjang | – | – | 11:26pm |
| CC23 one-north | – | – | 11:42pm |
| CC17 Caldecott | – | – | 12:10am |
| CC11 Tai Seng | – | – | 12:17am |
| CE2 Marina Bay | 6:12am | 6:33am | 11:46pm |
Station Layout
| L2 | Overhead Bridge | Across Nicoll Highway to Beach Road |
| L1 | Street level | Bus stops, Taxi stand, pick-up/drop-off point |
| B2 | Ticket Concourse | Faregates, Top Up Kiosks, Passenger Service Centre, Retail Shop |
| B3 | Platform A | Circle Line towards CC29NE1 HarbourFront |
| Platform B | Circle Line towards CC1NS24NE6 Dhoby Ghaut Circle Line towards CE2NS27TE20 Marina Bay |
Platforms
Circle Line (B3):
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| Platform A: Circle Line towards CC29NE1 HarbourFront via CC6 Stadium (→) Platform B: Circle Line towards CC1NS24NE6 Dhoby Ghaut via CC4DT15 Promenade (←) Circle Line towards CE2NS27TE20 Marina Bay via CC4DT15 Promenade (←) |
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Nicoll Highway station has two platforms in an island platform arrangement.
Concourse
Art in Transit: “Re-claiming the Peripherals” by Khiew Huey Chian
The artwork, inspired by the wild plants of Singapore, comprises various shapes and formations in different shades of grey. Seen by many as insignificant and redundant, these plants played a key role particularly to reclaimed land like Nicoll Highway, forming a layer of cover preventing soil erosion and loss, holding the soil firmly together.
Station Amenities
- Retail Shops at CCL Concourse Level (B2)
- Public Toilets at CCL Concourse Level (B2)
- ATMs & Self-Service Machines
- Bicycle Racks
- Top Up Kiosks
Exits
Nicoll Highway MRT station has two exits leading to ground level (A and B), of which Exit A offers barrier-free accessibility for the the disabled. Exit A also connects to an overhead bridge across Nicoll Highway and leads to Beach Road.
| Exit | Location | Nearby |
A  |
Nicoll Highway | City Gate, Golden Mile Complex, Golden Mile Food Centre, Golden Mile Tower, Golden Sultan Plaza, Hotel Traveltime, Kampong Glam Park, Malay Heritage Centre, Parkroyal on Beach Road, St. John’s Singapore HQ, Sultan Plaza, Textile Centre, The Concourse, The Plaza |
| B | Republic Avenue | Marina Promenade, Kallang River, Waterways Watch Society |
Transport Connections
Nicoll Highway station connects to several bus stops in the vicinity, as well as taxi stands and passenger pick-up points.
Bus
There are two official bus stops linked to Nicoll Highway station.
| No. | Bus stop | Exit | Bus Routes |
| B/s 1 | 80161 – Nicoll Highway (Opp Nicoll Highway Stn) | A | 10, 14, 16, 16M, 70, 70M, 196 |
| B/s 2 | 80169 – Nicoll Highway (Nicoll Highway Stn) | A | 10, 14, 14A, 16, 16M, 70, 70A, 70M, 196, 196A |
Road
Taxi stands and pick-up/drop-off points are located next to Circle Line station exits:
| Exit | Road | Provisions |
| A | Republic Avenue (towards Crawford St) | Taxi stand (F21), pick-up/drop-off point |
| A | Java Road (towards Beach Rd) | Pick-up/drop-off point |
MRT Bus Bridging Service
In the event of a MRT service disruption affecting Nicoll Highway station, MRT Bridging Buses may be activated to ply affected stretches of the Circle Line. In which case, the buses can be boarded from the following bus stops:
| Towards | Bus stop | Exit | |
| Circle Line (CCL Bridging Bus) |
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| CC1NS24NE6 Dhoby Ghaut | B/s 2: 80169 – Nicoll Highway (Nicoll Highway Stn) | A | |
| CC29NE1 HarbourFront | B/s 1: 80161 – Nicoll Highway (Opp Nicoll Highway Stn) | A | |
In addition, passengers can board free regular bus services at Bus Stops 1 & 2 when activated.
Passenger Usage Patterns
As a suburban station serving limited numbers of nearby developments, the station encounters low to moderate demand levels from visitors to various buildings and public parks in the vicinity.
Construction
Circle Line Stage 1 (CCL1) Contract 824 for the design and construction of Nicoll Highway and Stadium stations and tunnels was awarded to Japanese and local companies Nishimatsu-Lum Chang Joint Venture.
Major Incidents – Nicoll Highway Collapse incident
On 20 April 2004, at approximately 3:30 p.m., a temporary retaining wall supporting deep excavation works for the Circle Line tunnels collapsed, resulting in a 30-metre deep cave-in that spread across six lanes of Nicoll Highway. The accident occurred near the Merdeka Bridge and Golden Mile Complex, a short distance away from Nicoll Highway station. It was Singapore’s worst civil engineering accident in recent history.
At the time, tunnels in the vicinity of Nicoll Highway station were constructed with the cut-and-cover method, which required deep excavation into marine clay and retaining walls on both sides to hold the surrounding soil in place. When the retaining walls gave way, the surrounding soil caved in, leaving a collapse zone 150 m wide, 100 m long, and 30 m deep which swallowed up a part of Nicoll Highway. Four people were killed and three were injured. Rescue efforts were called off on 23 April 2004 due to the low chance of survival by that point, and the increasing need to stabilise the ground around the accident site. Nicoll Highway was closed and only re-opened in December 2004 after repair works were completed.
A Committee of Inquiry (COI) was appointed and found the main contractor Nishimatsu Construction Company largely at fault. It had, among other things, failed to heed warnings from instrumentation set up to measure earth movement. A couple of sub-contractors and 13 professionals – including several from the LTA – were named. As a result, three Nishimatsu executives and one former LTA project director were charged in court and fined between $8,000 and $160,000 each. The Japanese company was also fined a maximum of $200,000 under the Factories Act.
The accident resulted in the re-alignment of Nicoll Highway Station and the construction of new tunnels towards Stadium Station to steer clear of the collapse zone. A new station, two-thirds the size from the original, was built roughly 100 metres away from the original site, and the new rail tunnels curve away from the accident site, rejoining the old tunnel just before Stadium station. The new tunnels were bored using tunnel boring machines, and the new station employed a top-down method of construction, as opposed to the cut-and-cover method used to construct the original tunnels and station.
With the new station, plans for a basement level connection to The Concourse building were cancelled, and station exits at Java Road and Parkroyal Hotel were replaced by overhead bridge connections. Plans for a stacked underground interchange (similar to Bayfront MRT Station) were also abandoned, and the replacement Nicoll Highway station would be of a conventional island platform design to speed up reconstruction. Nishimatsu footed the bill of roughly S$300 million for the new station and tunnel re-alignment works, which comprised a small fraction of the company’s worldwide turnover of US$4 billion (S$5.4 billion) to US$5 billion back then. Stricter safety regulations for future MRT construction projects were a direct result of this incident.
The opening date for Circle Line Stages 1 and 2 was also delayed as a result. Initially scheduled to open in Year 2008, the opening was delayed to April 2010, allowing Circle Line Stage 3 between Bartley and Marymount to open for revenue service ahead of Stages 1 and 2 in May 2009.
Nishimatsu Construction Company, which had been involved in tunnelling works in Singapore since 1984, continued to be involved in local construction work after the accident. It was awarded Downtown Line Stage 3 Contract C929A for tunnels between Tai Seng Facility Building and Ubi, Kaki Bukit and Bedok Town Park stations, as well as another contract for the construction of the Gardens by the Bay station for the Thomson-East Coast Line (Stage 3).
Among the deceased, Heng Yeow Pheow was remembered as a hero. The 40-year-old foreman, a Singaporean, had hurried his workers to safety but was trapped when the collapse occurred. He left behind his wife, two young children, his 70-year-old mother and nine siblings, and his body was never recovered.
The impact of the Nicoll Highway collapse extended to the transport planning area. Promenade (formerly Millenia) and Nicoll Highway stations were to form a paired interchange with a future MRT line, similar to Raffles Place and City Hall, with stacked tunnels in between the two stations. These plans never materialised.
Gallery
Hi there,
Evening!
I’m writing on behalf of The Furniture Mall Pte Ltd.
The Furniture Mall no longer in Beach Rd since 5 years ago. Therefore kindly remove us (The Plaza & Furniture Mall) from signage of EXIT A from Nicoll Highway MRT.
Appreciate much!
Regards,
Ng Ai Shan
Marketing Executive
6298 1600 (Ext 816)