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Expansion, upgrading of Singapore's rail network on track: LTA

Aerial shot of the Marina Bay station construction works. Photo: LTA

Plans to expand and double Singapore’s rail network by 2030 are on schedule, says the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

In a news release on Friday, the LTA highlighted a number of updates about the expansion and upgrading of the existing rail network.

Commuters living in the Bukit Panjang and Bukit Timah areas will have an additional route to travel into the city when the Downtown Line 2 opens on 27 December this year.

Downtown Line 3 is also on track for completion in 2017.

Construction is also ongoing for the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) and the Marina Bay station, which will be an interchange for three MRT lines by 2021.

The LTA also says the upgraded signaling system for the North South Line (NSL) will be ready by mid-2016. Works for the system are more than 96 per cent completed, it added.

The East-West Line’s signalling system will be upgraded by 2018.

Over the next four years, 57 new trains will be added to the NSEWL.

Three of 18 new trains were added to the North East Line in Oct 2015, with the rest to be added progressively by the end of 2016.

By mid-2016, 11 new trains will also be added to the Circle Line.

“With the addition of these new trains, commuters can look forward to shorter waiting times and less crowded rides,” said the LTA.

New trains for existing lines will be rolled out yearly until 2019. Graphic: LTA
New trains for existing lines will be rolled out yearly until 2019. Graphic: LTA