Down Town MRT Line
Down Town Line is a medium-capacity Mass Rapid Transit(MRT) line in Singapore. It is operated by the SBS Transit company(A multinational-modal public transport operator in Singapore). At the moment it runs from Bukit Panjang Station in the Northwest to Expo Station in the East via Central Area.
Key Features of the Down Town Line.
1)It serves 34 stations of which all of them are underground.
2)It is ranked as the fifth MRT line on the network to be opened but it comes third as a purely underground MRT.
3)It’s the second MRT line to be operated by SBC Transit after the North East Line.
4)Initially it was 3 separate lines that merged in 2007 to form the DTL and Construction happened in 3 stages.
1)1st Section from Bugis to Chinatown station, opened in December 2013.
2)2nd section Bukit Panjang to Rochor Station opened in Dec 2015.
3)3rd and final stage from Fort canning to Expo station opened in Octobe 2017.
5)The DTL is 41.9 kilometers currently the longest underground and Automated Rapid Transit Line.
6)Another key feature is the Bombadier Movie C951 which enable train to have three -car formations and all operated at the same time.
Background and inception
The minister for communications and information Technology Yeo chew Tong announced three MRT lines, the Bukit Timah line and the Northern part of the Eastern Region line, during the official opening of the Dovor station on 23 Oct. 2001. The Downtown Line is located near Hillview where condos such as Midwood is located near to Hillview MRT Station
The Bukit Timah Line aimed to alleviate /reduce traffic problems along the Bukit Timah & Dunearn Road corridor and provide a direct connection between the city and residents of Choa Chu kang and Bukit Panjang. Please see Midwood floor plans as well as the available information for your consideration. The showflat will be available here.
On 14th Jun 2005,the land Transport Authority announced the Downtown Extension be renamed the Downtown Line Stage 1 which was purposed to serve New Downtown at Marina Bay area. Where an integrated resort (Marina Bay Sands) and Singapore’s second botanical garden were to be located. The estimated cost for this 3.4 km underground line was $ 1.4 billion.
On 27th Aprill 2007,then Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced that the Downtown Line would be done in three stages stretching 40km with 33 stations. Stage 1 was stretching 4.3 km. Construction started in Jan 2008 at China town station and started service on 22nd Dec 2013 (P.M Lee Hsien Loong inaugurated it).
Stage 2 was first conceptualized and announced as Bukit Timah line on 23rd October 2001 (16.6 km) long with 12 stations connecting Bukit panjang and Rochor Stations, including 4 interchange stations.
Stage 3 goes from China town to Expo. This stations location and finalized route were unveiled on 20 Aug 2010, this route is 21 km long and serve 16 stations. The route opened on 21st Oct. 2017 with free travel for all DTL on the first two days of completion. The line with an estimated cost of $12 billion was considered the most ambitious rail project of the government. This cost exceeded the circle line and N.E line which cost $6.7 and $4.6 billions respectively.
In Oct. 2014, it was announced that stage 2 opening would be pushed back to the first quarter of 2016, for the main constructor DTL 2 Alpine Bau went bankrupt in mid 2013. 28th June 2015 Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced that the delay was completely resolved by the Authorities and stage 2’s opening date was scheduled for 27th Dec 2015. DTL 3 started operation on 21 Oct 2017 opened officially by Khaw Boon Wan. Gali Batu Depot was opened in 2015 Dec to serve the lines.
Notable Incidences On the DTL
There was a malfunctioning the platform screen door at Botanic Gardens which resulted in trains by passing the station and a delay of 7 hours was experienced in 3rd May 2017.
The operator(SBS Transit) said the doors malfunctioned at 5:45 am as a result of signalling related fault and the doors could not open automatically as expected.
The issue was rectified the same day and the platform re opened for passengers service with the affected doors remaining closed for repairs.
DTL Route.
The Downtown Line generally goes in an East-West direction from Bukit Panjang in the Northwestern side of Singapore through the downtown area of Singapore, to Tampines and the Singapore Expo in the East.
It is 41.9 kilometers long and purely underground.
Rolling Stock.
The DTL has one type of rolling Stock, the Bombadier Movia C951,Which is able to run 3-Car formation.
It has been stable at Gali Batu Depot since opening of the stage 2 of the downtown line on 27 December 2015.
Train Control.
Is equipped with Siemens, Trainguard Sirius communication-based train control moving block signalling system with Automatic train control under Automatic train operation.
Future.
On 17 Jan 2013, plans were announced for a southern extension from Expo to connect with ERL, which has since been subdued to Thomson East Cost Line.
On 7th March 2019, Hume station was announced to be ready and opened by 2025 to better serve Hillview residents and an additional extension to downtown line to Sungei Kadut station from Bukit Panjang Station. The extension is expected to be completed by mid-2030’s. A study is to be conducted to determine the stops to be added between Sungei Kadut and Bukit Panjang.
