New Canberra MRT station to come up between Yishun and Sembawang

Singapore’s Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced on Friday that the government will be constructing a Canberra MRT station between Yishun and Sembawang stations on the North-South Line.

He said this during his speech at a groundbreaking ceremony for Singapore’s sixth MRT line, the Thomson Line (TSL), adding that more details will be made available by the Land Transport Authority when ready.

The TSL, which was gazetted in August 2012, will largely run parallel to the North-South Line, benefiting over 400,000 commuters in the north and central parts of Singapore.

Lui said that TSL is also expected to “provide additional 60 per cent capacity along the North-South corridor”.

There will be 22 stations along TSL – six of them currently exist but 16 will be new.

The six existing stations are Woodlands, Caldecott, Stevens, Orchard, Outram Park and Marina Bay.

TSL will be completed in phases between 2019 and 2021 and will eventually link to Johor Bahru via Woodlands North station.

Lui also said that the west loop of Punggol LRT “will be opened for revenue service” on Sunday.

“The North-South Line Extension will open later this year, the Tuas West Extension in 2016, and the 42-kilometre Downtown Line will be fully opened in 2017. The ongoing construction works at Tuas West, and Downtown Line 2 and 3 are also progressing well,” Lui said.

These are all part of the ministry’s Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP), which aims to double Singapore’s rail network by 2030. By then, the government hopes that eight in 10 households will be within a 10-minute walk from the nearest train station.

Plans under the LTMP, which was unveiled in 2013, include building five new MRT lines, adding more than 100 new trains, 800 more buses and 40 new bus services, among others.