Tan Kah Kee MRT Station

DT8  Tan Kah Kee MRT Station 陈嘉庚地铁站 டான் கா கீ Stesen MRT Tan Kah Kee
Rapid transit
Downtown Line plaforms of Tan Kah Kee MRT Station
Location	651 Bukit Timah Road Singapore 266268
Coordinates	1°19′34″N 103°48′26″E / 1.326039°N 103.807169°E
Operated by	SBS Transit DTL
Line(s)	Downtown Line
Platforms	Island
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus, Taxi
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	DT8
History
Opened	27 December 2015
Previous names	Duchess
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station Sixth Avenue towards Bukit Panjang Downtown Line Botanic Gardens towards Chinatown
Location

Platform of Tan Kah Kee, with the incorrect Tamil wording

Tan Kah Kee MRT Station (DT8) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the Downtown Line Stage 2 in Singapore, formerly known as the Bukit Timah Line. The station will serve the Bukit Timah corridor just north of the junction between Bukit Timah Road and Duchess Avenue, and is within walking distance to several schools in the area, including Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School, Raffles Girls' Primary School, Methodist Girls' School and National Junior College.^[1]

History

Naming

As part of the Downtown Line Stage 2 land Transport Authority (LTA) survey in July 2008, suggestions for the name of the station was open to public. Students from nearby Hwa Chong Institution suggested for the station to be named Hwa Chong as the station was to be built in Hwa Chong compounds. A Facebook group has been set up to promote their cause.^[2] Despite this, LTA did not include Hwa Chong as one of the options for the public to select, reasoning that stations should not be named after landmarks or buildings. Instead, Watten (after nearby Watten Estate) and Kah Kee (after the founder of Hwa Chong Institution, Tan Kah Kee) were proposed by the LTA alongside the working name Duchess in October 2008.

It was believed the students and staff of Hwa Chong Institution wanted the option Kah Kee to be chosen and Facebook groups were used to promote their cause.^[3]

On June 16, 2009, LTA announced the station's name was to be Tan Kah Kee, marking the first time that a person's full name was used for the name of an MRT station and also marking the first time that a MRT station name that did not relate to where the station was located is used.

Cracks appearing on homes near the station

The Land Transport Authority has taken steps to repair damages to at least 40 Watten Estate homes, believed to be linked to the construction of the Downtown Line. Residents of the terraced and semi-detached houses at Bukit Timah complained that they began noticing hairline cracks in walls inside and outside their homes between July and August 2012. They added that cracks began widening in those weeks. Besides cracks, some car porch roofs and walls had shifted, and some gates could no longer open. The houses in the upscale neighbourhood where home prices start in the millions, are across from the site of the upcoming Tan Kah Kee MRT station. Checks were made by LTA and the houses were found to be structurally safe.^[4]

Incorrect Tamil name

During the Downtown MRT Line Stage 2 open house on 5 December 2015, LTA was informed by netizens that the Tamil translation of the station was incorrect and issued an apology in the evening for the error and said: "We apologise for the error in the Tamil translation of Tan Kah Kee station and would be taking immediate action to have the station name replaced. This was done before the stations opened for passenger service on Dec 27, 2015." ^[5]

Art in Transit

"Gratitude" and "Resilience" by Hwa Chong Institution are artworks inspired by Tan Kah Kee's remarkable philanthropic legacy and to reflect on what it means to give back to society. The latter reflects on what it means to be resilient in times of hardship.

Station layout

L2	Overhead Bridge	Hwa Chong Institution
L1	Street Level	Hwa Chong Institution
B1	Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing Machines, Station Control, Transitlink Counter
B2	Platform B	Downtown Line towards  DT19  NE4  Chinatown via  DT9  CC19  Botanic Gardens (→)
	Island platform, doors will open on the right
	Platform A	Downtown Line towards  DT1  BP6  Bukit Panjang via  DT7  Sixth Avenue (←)

Exits

• A: Coronation Plaza, Crown Centre, Hwa Chong Institution, King's Arcade
• B: Nanyang Girls' High School, National Junior College, Raffles Girls' Primary School

Transport connections

Rail

Destination	First Train				Last Train
	Mon – Sat		Sunday & Public Holiday		Daily
Downtown Line
to DT1 Bukit Panjang	6.02am		6.23am		12.34am
to DT19 Chinatown	5.44am		6.04am		11.49pm

References

1. "Alignment of DTL and DTL 2 and maps of DTL 2 stations" (PDF). Land Transport Authority. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
2. "Next stop on Downtown Line: Hwa Chong station?". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
3. "Hwa Chong founder gets station". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
4. "MRT works cause cracks in Bukit Timah homes". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
5. "LTA apologises for incorrect Tamil translation of Downtown Line 2's Tan Kah Kee station". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2015-12-05.