The Land Transport Authority will close the loop on the Circle Line (CCL) by the middle of the year, said Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow during the Committee of Supply debates in Parliament on Wednesday (March 4).
As part of Circle Line Stage 6, three new stations will open between HarbourFront and Marina Bay stations — Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road stations.
The opening of the final three stations comes 17 years after the first stretch between Bartley and Marymount stations opened in May 2009. In all, the CCL will have 33 stations, including 12 interchange stations that connect to other rail lines.
Separately, three new stations under the Thomson-East Coast Line Stage 5 (TEL5) and Downtown Line 3 extension (DTL3e) are also on track to open in the second half of the year, according to the Ministry of Transport (MOT).
“An MRT Line takes about 15 years to build, but in just 20 years, we have almost doubled the length of our MRT network. This is a remarkable achievement and we are still building,” Siow said.
Seletar Line engineering studies to start this year
Siow also said that engineering studies for the Seletar Line, Tengah Line and West Coast extension of the Jurong Region Line (JRL) are set to begin later this year.
The Seletar Line in particular will provide more travel options for residents in the north-east.
It could serve areas such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Sengkang West, Serangoon North, Whampoa, Kallang and the Greater Southern Waterfront, former Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat told Parliament during last year’s Committee of Supply debates.
Additionally, MOT will explore the possibility of a corridor serving the Sengkang West and Serangoon North areas, and how to connect this to the Cross Island Line and Circle Line.
New station added to Jurong Region Line
Under the JRL, a new J2SA station will be added between the JS2 and JS3 stations that will serve commuters in the Tengah area in the future.
This will bring the total number of stations along the JRL to 25, with construction for this new station underway.
The station will open in tandem with the completion of other developments in the area, which will likely take place around the mid-2030s, Siow said.
“Many of my residents, especially in Tengah, are looking forward to it (the JRL), because it will be a game changer for them in terms of their transport options,” he added.
However, the opening of the JRL will be shifted to mid-2028, six months after the original expected timeline of end-2027 due to construction delays and testing.
Two interim shuttle bus services will be introduced towards the end of 2027 to improve transport capacity and connectivity within the area that the JRL Stage 1 is meant to serve.
More details on this will be announced when ready, said MOT.
NEL commuters shift away from morning peak period
Around eight per cent of commuters along the North East Line (NEL) have shifted off the morning peak periods, said Acting Minister Siow.
Siow said the shift can be attributed to free morning off-peak travel on the NEL and Sengkang-Punggol LRT which was introduced in Dec 27 last year.
“This has resulted in a less crowded ride for other commuters travelling during morning peak hours,” he said, adding that the decrease in crowd is akin to the effect of adding two extra trains or 20 buses.
MOT shared that the proportion of commuters who shifted out of the morning peak has increased over the months from about six per cent in early January to nearly eight per cent in the week of Feb 2.
Commuters can make use of this programme by tapping in at any of the six NEL stations between Punggol Coast station and Kovan station or any Sengkang-Punggol LRT station before 7.30am or between 9am and 9.45am on weekdays, excluding public holidays. https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/circle-line-completed-mrt-station-keppel-cantonment-prince-edward
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