Thomson-East Coast MRT Line

TEL  Thomson-East Coast Line Laluan MRT Thomson-Pantai Timur 汤申-东海岸地铁线 தாம்சன் - ஈஸ்ட் கோஸ்ட் எம்ஆர்டி வழி
The Thomson-East Coast Line is coloured brown on system maps.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
Status	Thomson stretch Under construction East Coast stretch Architectural and engineering consultancy studies
Termini	Woodlands North Sungei Bedok
Stations	31 (under construction)
Services	1
Operation
Opened	2019 (Stage 1) 2020 (Stage 2) 2021 (Stage 3) 2023 (Stage 4) 2024 (Stage 5)
Owner	Land Transport Authority
Operator(s)	TBA
Character	Underground
Depot(s)	Mandai Changi (Future)
Rolling stock	CT251
Technical
Line length	43 km (27 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC Third Rail[1]
Route map Legend  TE1  Woodlands North  ■ Jurong East – Marina South Pier   TE2  NS9  Woodlands  TE3  Woodlands South  TE4  Springleaf  TE5  Lentor  TE6  Mayflower  TE7  Bright Hill  TE8  Upper Thomson   ■ Paya Lebar   TE9  CC17  Caldecott  ■ HarbourFront   TE10  Mount Pleasant  ■ Bukit Panjang – Sungei Bedok   TE11  DT10  Stevens  TE12  Napier  TE13  Orchard Boulevard   ■ Jurong East   TE14  NS22  Orchard   ■ Marina South Pier   TE15  Great World  TE16  Havelock   ■ Joo Koon   TE17  EW16  NE3  Outram Park   ■ HarbourFront – Punggol    ■ Pasir Ris   TE18  Maxwell  TE19  Shenton Way   ■ Marina South Pier – Jurong East    ■ Buona Vista – Paya Lebar   TE20  NS27  CE2  Marina Bay  TE21  Marina South  TE22  Gardens by the Bay  TE23  Tanjong Rhu  TE24  Katong Park  TE25  Amber  TE26  Marine Parade  TE27  Marine Terrace  TE28  Siglap  TE29  Bayshore  TE30  Bedok South  TE31  DT37  Sungei Bedok   ■ Bukit Panjang

The Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) will be the sixth Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and the fourth fully automated and driverless system line in Singapore. The line was announced on 15 August 2014 by the Land Transport Authority as the merger of the Thomson Line (TSL) and the Eastern Region Line (ERL).^[2] The line is fully underground. The stretch from Woodlands North to Gardens by the Bay costs S$18 billion. The line will open in five stages from 2019 onwards, and interchanges with all existing lines. When the first three stages are opened, it is expected to serve about 500,000 commuters daily.^[3][2]

The line, which is 43 km (27 mi) long and consists of 31 stations, will run through the north-south corridor, starting in the northern Woodlands area, passing through the estate of Sin Ming Avenue, down to the residential Thomson area and the shopping districts of Orchard and Marina Bay, then running eastwards along the east coast through Siglap, Marine Parade and Bedok South, before ending at Sungei Bedok. Residents in the heartlands of Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh, Moulmein-Kallang, Tanjong Rhu and Bedok South will benefit from faster and more direct connections to the city. Its depots are located at Mandai, south of Woodlands, and near the south-eastern terminus of the line at Tanah Merah.^[4] If built, the planned Singapore-Johor Bahru Rapid Transit System is also likely to offer interchange to the line's Woodlands North terminus.

History

Thomson stretch

The Thomson Line was first announced on 25 January 2008. Several architectural and engineering consultancy packages were released in 2010 which indicated an increase in the number of stations from 18 in the initial announcement to the current 22 and length of the line from 27 km to 30 km.^[5]

On 16 June 2011, the Land Transport Authority announced the location of the depot for the line, due to begin construction at the end of 2012. It also announced Woodlands as an interchange with the existing North South Line and an additional station located near to Republic Polytechnic. In addition, the northern terminus will also house the Johor Bahru RTS link.^[6]

On 29 August 2012, it was announced the Thomson Line will be ready from 2019 onwards instead of the indicative timeline of 2018 announced in the Land Transport Masterplan.^[3]

Construction of the Thomson Line began in January 2014.^[7]

On 27 June 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony took place at Woodlands. All the working station names were confirmed as the final names except for Sin Ming station which was changed to Bright Hill.

East Coast stretch

The line was first officially announced on 18 October 2001. In its preliminary plans, Eastern Region Line was to have been a 40 kilometre rectangular loop that would complement the existing East West Line and enhance inter- and intra-town travelling in the eastern region. It would have looped around the Jalan Besar and East Coast areas, intersecting the Circle Line and other lines along the way, benefiting residents in Tampines, Bedok, Marine Parade, MacPherson and Kaki Bukit.^[8] However, the northern part of the loop such as Jalan Besar, Tampines, MacPherson and Kaki Bukit is now part of the Stage 3 of the Downtown Line. The ERL is now planned to closely follow the southern stretch of the originally announced plan.

On 11 July 2012, a speech by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, at Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) Tunelling Works Ceremony, announced that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are starting architectural and engineering consultancy studies for the Eastern Region Line, which will eventually connect to the Thomson Line.^[9]

On 29 May 2013, Land Transport Authority director of rail services, Melvyn Thong said at the Modern Railways conference, there are plans to extend ERL and link to the future Singapore Changi Airport's Terminal 4 which is set to be ready by 2017^[10] but on 1 June 2013, LTA clarified that ERL will not provide an MRT link to the planned Terminal 4,^[11] but instead, on 30 August 2013, Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo unveiled plans that it will be linked to the future planned Singapore Changi Airport's Terminal 5, a mega terminal, which will be the largest terminal in Singapore upon completion around the mid 2020s.^[12]

Merger

On 15 August 2014, it was announced that the Eastern Region Line will be merged with the Thomson Line to form the Thomson-East Coast Line, extending the project to 5 stages.^[2]

Opening in Stages

The Thomson-East Coast Line will be opening in 5 Stages: Stage 1 in 2019, Stage 2 in 2020, Stage 3 in 2021, Stage 4 in 2023 and Stage 5 in 2024.

Stage 1 (2019)

Stage 1 consists of Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South. This phase will benefit passengers living in northern Singapore and enhance accessibility and connectivity to the Central Business District and Downtown area.

Stage 2 (2020)

Stage 2 consists of Springleaf, Lentor, Mayflower, Bright Hill, Upper Thomson and Caldecott. Passengers living west of Ang Mo Kio will be able to experience savings in travel time when commuting. Caldecott will become an interchange station when it opens in 2020 and will connect commuters to the orbital Circle Line, offering inter-suburban connectivity.^[3]

Stage 3 (2021)

Stage 3 includes the next thirteen stations from Mount Pleasant to Gardens by the Bay. It will interchange with the North South Line at Orchard and Marina Bay stations, East West Line and North East Line at Outram Park station, Circle Line at Marina Bay station and Downtown Line at Stevens station.

Stage 4 (2023)

Stage 4 will include seven new stations plying along the east coast from Tanjong Rhu to Bayshore.

Stage 5 (2024)

Stage 5 will be the last phase of the Thomson-East Coast Line, consisting of Bedok South and Sungei Bedok, with a depot at Tanah Merah. The world's first four-in-one train and bus depot will also be built with the TEL. It will house buses and trains for the TEL, East-West Line and Downtown Line. The 36ha depot at Changi can house about 220 trains and 550 buses and integrating the depot for both buses and trains will help to save close to 60 football fields of land space.

Rolling stock

The Thomson-East Coast Line's rolling stock will be a four-car system instead of the previous three-car system to enable additional capacity to cope with any increase in long-term demand.^[3]

On 28 May 2014, the LTA announced that it has awarded the Contract T251 (Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Sifang T251), worth S$749 million to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium, for the design, manufacturing and delivering the new four-car trains. The new fully automated and driverless trains will be the first batch to be equipped with five doors per side per carriage, to facilitate fast and smooth boarding and alighting.^[13]

Train Control

The Thomson-East Coast Line is equipped with Alstom (previously GE Transportation before Alstom acquisition) Tempo Communications-based train control (CBTC) moving block signalling system with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 4 (UTO).^[14][15] The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains and a Computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points to be set.

GE Transportation also will be supplying platform Screen Doors for the Thomson-East Coast Line.^[15]

Stations

Station Number	Station Name	Interchange/Notes
Stage 1 (under construction, to be ready by 2019)
TE1	Woodlands North
TE2  NS9	Woodlands	Change for the North South Line
TE3	Woodlands South
Stage 2 (under construction, to be ready by 2020)
TE4	Springleaf
TE4a	Reserved Station	Closed until further notice; Shell Station; Not in operation
TE5	Lentor
TE6	Mayflower
TE7	Bright Hill
TE8	Upper Thomson
TE9  CC17	Caldecott	Change for the Circle Line
Stage 3 (under construction, to be ready by 2021)
TE10	Mount Pleasant
TE11  DT10	Stevens	Change for the Downtown Line
TE12	Napier
TE13	Orchard Boulevard
TE14  NS22	Orchard	Change for the North South Line
TE15	Great World
TE16	Havelock
TE17  EW16  NE3	Outram Park	Change for the East West Line or North East Line
TE18	Maxwell
TE19	Shenton Way
TE20  NS27  CE2	Marina Bay	Change for the North South Line or Circle Line
TE21	Marina South
TE22	Gardens by the Bay
Stage 4 (under planning)
TE23	Tanjong Rhu
TE24	Katong Park
TE25	Amber
TE26	Marine Parade
TE27	Marine Terrace
TE28	Siglap
TE29	Bayshore
Stage 5 (under planning)
TE30	Bedok South
TE31  DT37	Sungei Bedok	Change for the Downtown Line

External links

• Thomson-East Coast Line

References

1. http://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=f0b205a6-69ab-49b0-b94d-65384ee5e5c0
2. "Joint News Release by the Land Transport Authority & Singapore Land Authority - Thomson-East Coast Line: New MRT Links In The East". Land Transport Authority. 15 August 2014.
3. "Speech by Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport, at the Inspection of Downtown Line 1 Station and Announcement of Thomson Line alignment, 29 August 2012, 10.00am at Telok Ayer Station". Ministry of Transport. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
4. "LTA unveils sites for Thomson Line terminal station". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
5. http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2343/tslinfo.png
6. "Thomson Line Depot To Be Constructed In Mandai". Land Transport Authority. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
7. "Caldecott - It's Beginning". Thomson Line Construction. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
8. "Speech by Mr Raymond Lim – Doubling our Rail Network". Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
9. "Speech by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, at DTL3 Tunelling Works Ceremony". Ministry Of Transport. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
10. "Direct MRT link to Changi Airport planned". The Straits Times. 2013-05-30.
11. "No Terminal 4 link on Eastern Region Line". asiaone. 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
12. "Changi T5 to land by mid 2020s, capacity to handle 50m passenger movements a year". The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
13. "Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium Awarded Prestigious Contract Worth $749 million". Land Transport Authority. 28 May 2014.
14. GE Transportation Chosen by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) To Supply the Signaling of New Thomson and Eastern Region Lines
15. "Singapore’s LTA selects GE Transportation for driverless CBTC solution". Railway Technology. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2016.