Circle Line stations at popular stops to open on Sat

The 12 final stations making up the fourth and fifth stages of the Circle Line will commence operations from this Saturday, 8 October.

Yahoo! Singapore had the privilege of a private tour of some of the stations on Wednesday and saw brightly-lit platforms and interesting artwork at each stop.

[Slideshow: See our photos of the new Circle Line stations]

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew earlier said that peak hour train overcrowding will ease with the launch of the final 12 stations, completing the entire line of 28 stops.

With the opening of the new stations, the MRT line, which started running from April last year, will now serve popular locations in Singapore such as the Botanic Gardens, Holland Village, Buona Vista and Harbourfront.

The 33km-long Circle Line has an expected daily ridership of about 400,000.

“Circle Line will enhance connectivity of the rail network and bring significant time savings for commuters,” said Lui.

The new line will comprise six interchange stops, namely Harbourfront, Buona Vista, Bishan, Serangoon, Paya Lebar and Dhoby Ghaut.

Commuting from Bishan to Buona Vista will now take 26 minutes on the Circle Line instead of 40 minutes on the North-South and East-West lines.

In addition to the new stations, 17 trains will also be added by December to increase overall capacity.

SMRT will be having a carnival at the Holland Village station from 6 – 9pm to celebrate the full opening of the Circle Line on Saturday. Admission is free.