17 new trains to come for North East and Circle lines: LTA
A contract worth about $250 million has been awarded to French rail transport company Alstom for the purchase of six North East Line (NEL) and 11 new Circle Line (CCL) trains, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Monday (30 April).
The 17 new trains will cater for additional rider capacity when the North East Line Extension (NELe) and Circle Line 6 (CCL6) begin operations in 2023 and 2025 respectively. The added trains will bring the existing NEL fleet from 43 to 49 – a 14 per cent increase – and the existing CCL flet from 64 to 75 – a 17 per cent increase.
These trains will be manufactured and assembled in Alstom’s manufacturing facility in Barcelona, Spain, and progressively shipped to Singapore from 2020 for the NEL and 2021 for the CCL, added the LTA. The trains will undergo testing and commissioning before they are put into service.
“To enable a more robust maintenance regime, all the new trains will be equipped with condition monitoring systems to gather data from equipment on the trains. This enables continuous monitoring of the health of the equipment and allows the operator to carry out predictive maintenance for the trains,” said the LTA.
Additionally, the current collector shoes on the new CCL trains will also be equipped with sensors “to enable the operator to react promptly and take necessary measures if any dislodgement is detected”.
Two of the new CCL three-car trains will also each be fitted with an Automatic Track Inspection (ATI) System, which enables monitoring of the running rails, track equipment and sleepers while the trains are in operation. The system “supplements existing track inspection activities for timely and more effective identification of rail and trackside components which require maintenance”.
The 1.6km NELe comprises one MRT station – Punggol Coast – bringing the total number of stations on the NEL to 17, including six interchange stations connected to other MRT lines. When completed in 2023, NELe will open with the first phase of developments at the Punggol Digital District.
Meanwhile, the 4.3km CCL6 will have three stations – Keppel, Cantonment and Prince
Edward – and will close the loop for the CCL by connecting HarbourFront Station to Marina
Bay Station.
When the CCL6 stations are completed in 2025, the CCL will have a total of 33 stations, including 12 interchange stations connected to other MRT lines.
