March 13, 2006
Groundwork begins for new MRT lines LTA checks for station locations and soil conditions for Eastern and Bukit Timah lines
By Christopher Tan
THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) has started preliminary work on two new major MRT lines - the Eastern Region Line (ERL) and the Bukit Timah Line (BTL).
They are expected to add about 60km to Singapore's current rail network of 178km.
The ERL will be a 40km rectangular loop around the Jalan Besar area and the East Coast, while the BTL will be a 20km line linking Upper Bukit Timah and the city.
Both will intersect with existing lines as well as the Circle Line, now under construction, and both will flow into the New Downtown.
LTA rail director Lim Bok Ngam told The Straits Times work could begin within six months of the Government giving the final go-ahead on the budget and the alignment of the routes.
When will the green light be given? Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong yesterday said it depended very much on the demand for housing and other developments in those areas, so that there was a viable load factor for the line.
'We don't want to build something that turns out to be under-utilised.' He was speaking to reporters at a community event a day after work started on the latest MRT project, the $436 million Boon Lay MRT extension.
In the meantime, Mr Lim's planners and engineers are already looking at possible station locations, as well as the soil profile and some of the engineering challenges that may crop up along these two lines, he said.
He said the LTA was likely to tackle the two projects in phases, just as it had done with the Circle Line.
The Straits Times understands that the upper loop of the 40km ERL is likely to be built first. This section will pass through the Jalan Besar area and onwards to parts of Bedok and Tampines.
Mr Lim, a 30-year land transport veteran who has long been in charge of road projects, succeeded former rail chief Rajan Krishnan last year. Mr Rajan left the LTA in the aftermath of the Nicoll Highway cave-in in April 2004, in which four people died.
The University of Singapore-trained engineer reckons that if work begins by 2010, when the Circle Line is due to be completed, the Bukit Timah Line will be completed by 2016. By 2020, the first stretch of the Eastern Region Line would be ready.
What's next? There is the Thomson Line, which will be the MRT equivalent of the Central Expressway - the highway that now links northern Singapore and the Central Business District.
There are also plans for a line to thread through the northern housing estates of Woodlands, Punggol, Seletar and Pasir Ris, possibly with a 10km line which will join the existing Punggol and Pasir Ris stations.
By 2030, the Government envisages a rail network of 540km - more extensive than London's 408km Tube system.
Mr Lim is confident this can be achieved. But for now, he is not looking beyond the Bukit Timah and Eastern Regional Lines, as plans do sometimes change.
For instance, the Jurong Region Line, a light rail system originally planned for the same time frame, does not currently seem viable.
In fact, Mr Lim says there are currently 'no plans to expand the LRT network further'.
'If there is a new township that's going to be very heavily built up, we'll do so,' he said. Otherwise, the LRT's role can be fulfilled by feeder buses.
But with more tracks laid, rail ridership will rise. Public transport ridership is now skewed heavily towards buses, which account for 2.5 million daily rides. The trains provide 1.2 million rides a day now. When the Circle Line is up, ridership will go up to 1.5 million a day.
The ERL and BTL may eventually tilt the balance in favour of rail.
All in favour of the BTL is Madam Halimah Yacob - an MP for Jurong GRC whose ward includes the areas around Beauty World Centre in Bukit Timah - as it will ease congestion along Bukit Timah Road.
She added: 'Having an MRT in the area has been the request of shopkeepers and residents there for some time now. So I hope the LTA will speed up in building the line.'
[email protected]ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY THERESA TAN
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