Retired MRT Train featured in local TV Drama Third Rail

Singaporeans are no strangers to the words terrorism, especially when public transport security announcements are heard throughout the transit system daily.

Or this video, which has been omnipresent across all MRT stations in the last two decades:

Production house Ochre Pictures has undertaken the herculean task of producing a local TV drama Third Rail, featuring a life-sized train and rail tunnel in its film set at the Changi Exhibition Centre.

The train featured in the show is a first-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 train, used on the North-South and East-West Lines since 1987.

Together with the 2nd and 3rd-generation trains, these trains are currently being decommisioned. Most traincars are headed straight for the scrapyard, but authorities have been open to proposals to repurpose these old cars, including the upcycling of the old seats in neighbourhoods.

Retired Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 train cars 3095 and 1095 were transported across the island from Tuas West Depot to Changi Exhibition Centre on the night of 5th March 2022.

After arriving at Changi Exhibition Centre, the train cars were lifted by crane onto real train tracks and sleepers. A 180m-long tunnel was then constructed around it.

The original SMRT black train livery was covered in a fictional colourful “KMRT” livery. One would also easily recognize shapes of the route maps in the train cabin, but the stations names have been renamed for filming purposes as well.

Walking through the dark stuffy train set, we could see much of the original train features were retained, including the familiar red-green-(blue) colour scheme for the seats.

A pair of broken windows, and leftover shattered glass bits on the train floor – a revelation of some of the hostage scenes captured as part of the drama.

Third Rail will be available on meWATCH starting Oct 17, on Mediacorp YouTube Drama Channel starting Oct 25 and on Channel 5 starting Oct 31 at 9.30pm.


Continue your tour on a virtual walkthrough in our video collaboration here!


See also

8 thoughts on “Retired MRT Train featured in local TV Drama Third Rail

  • 14 December 2022 at 12:49 PM
    Permalink

    Last time there was this TV show Shiver. One episode had Andrew Seow’s character go into an alternate world using a mysterious MRT card (the old floppy one).

    They should have dug up and used the MRT station names from that episode. Paya Lebar = Tai Seng, Lavender = Desker, Dhoby Gaut = Serangoon… but maybe they don’t want to confuse with the ACTUAL Tai Seng and Serangoon stations.

    Interestingly, in both, Aljunied station became Geylang.

    Reply
  • 16 October 2022 at 6:49 PM
    Permalink

    Unfortunately, the set has already been taken down and demolished

    Reply
    • 8 November 2022 at 7:52 AM
      Permalink

      Where is the train now?
      Has it been scrapped?

      Reply
  • 8 October 2022 at 3:15 PM
    Permalink

    Is it free on mewatch?

    Reply
  • 5 October 2022 at 6:58 PM
    Permalink

    Whoever renamed the MRT stations just literally ripped off the original MRT map. What a wasted opportunity, especially when Mediacorp can just create an artificial MRT map, featuring its television channels and any quality local production that it got (again, if any).

    Anyway, considering the investment, using it for just one television production would be too wasteful. Hopefully this set can be permanent, and re-used in other productions, such as family drama (if channel 8 still wants to produce them), etcetera.

    Reply
    • 14 April 2023 at 8:38 PM
      Permalink

      North-South Line: Central Line
      East-West Line: Oval Line
      North-East Line: Diagonal Line
      Circle Line: Triangle Line
      Downtown Line: Island Line
      Bukit Panjang LRT: North LRT
      Jurong East: East Central
      Bukit Batok: Quarry
      Bukit Gombak: Two Hills
      Choa Chu Kang: Kingfisher
      Yew Tee: Mersing East
      Kranji: Neo Tiew
      Marsiling: Mersing West
      Woodlands: Causeway
      Admiralty: Ulu Ulu
      Sembawang: Bottle Tree
      Canberra: ???
      Yishun: North Star
      Khatib: Hot Springs
      Yio Chu Kang: Cabana
      Ang Mo Kio: Pang Kio
      Bishan: Peck San
      Braddell: Balestiar
      Toa Payoh: Swamplands
      Novena: Park Place
      Newton: Circus
      Orchard: Dynasty
      Somerset: Nova
      Dhoby Ghaut: Istana
      City Hall: Capitol
      Raffles Place: Fullerton Square
      Marina Bay: South Bay
      Marina South Pier: Isle Pier
      EWL (OVL):
      Pasir Ris: Golden Sands
      Tampines: Kampung Melayu
      Simei: Melville
      Tanah Merah: Upper Changi (Used by DT34 in real life)
      Expo: Confucius
      Changi Airport: Jewel (Used by the nearby mall in real life)
      Bedok: Chai Chee
      Kembangan: Sims East
      Eunos: Wisma
      Paya Lebar: Parklane
      Aljunied: Geylang
      Kallang: Riviera (Used by PE4/CP3 in real life)
      Lavender: Crawford
      Bugis: Midtown
      City Hall: Capitol
      Raffles Place: Fullerton Square
      Tanjong Pagar: Duxton
      Outram Park: Keong Saik
      Tiong Bahru: Henderson
      Redhill: Hong San
      Queenstown: Elizabeth
      Commonwealth: Queensway
      Buona Vista: Rochester Park
      Dover: University
      Clementi: Sunset Way
      Jurong East: East Central
      Chinese Garden: Tech Park
      Lakeside: Berjaya
      Boon Lay: Bahar (Used by Jalan Bahar JS7 in real life)
      Pioneer: Industrial
      Joo Koon: Bird Park
      Gul Circle: Ulu Pandan
      Tuas Crescent: 2nd Link
      Tuas West Road and Tuas Link: Station names cannot be read clearly, answer me if you got the answer

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *