Stage 2 of Thomson-East Coast Line to be delayed by another six months to Q3 2021: LTA
SINGAPORE – Phase 2 of the Thomson-East Coast MRT Line (TEL) will be delayed by another six months till the third quarter of 2021 to review the rail system software, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Monday (Dec 14).
In addition, other major rail and road infrastructure projects will be delayed by up to a year after work was suspended during the circuit breaker earlier this year, it added in a statement.
These include stages three and four of the TEL, the Cross Island Line, Jurong Region Line, Circle Line stage 6 and the North South Corridor.
The LTA also attributed the delays to other Covid-19-induced factors, such as disruptions to the global supply chain for construction materials and a general manpower crunch due to border closures.
It said the revised completion and opening timelines for these projects are still being finalised, and it will issue updates in due course.
The LTA’s announcement on the TEL stage two delay follows an incident earlier this month in which train services between Woodlands North and Woodlands South stations on the TEL were disrupted for more than five hours due to a signalling fault.
Together with Woodlands station, the two stations fall under stage one of the TEL, which has been open since Jan 31.
TEL operator SMRT later said the fault was caused by a software glitch in the signalling system’s network component. As a result, the component had to be reconfigured before the system could be reset.
Said the LTA: “The recent disruption of TEL prompted LTA to review the software of the system, which contributed to the delay, more thoroughly with our contractor.
“As rail systems are complex, it is better that we try to iron out as many teething issues as possible before opening the next phase. This is a key reason why TEL is being opened in phases.”
The completion of six stations on TEL stage two – from Springleaf to Caldecott – was initially delayed by three months from the end of this year to the first quarter of 2021 due to Covid-19.
On Monday, the LTA said construction has progressively resumed at all its work sites since June 2.
“Our contractors have been adhering to strict safe management measures at work sites, including mandatory daily temperature monitoring, using SafeEntry or TraceTogether to check in and out, as well as ensuring work is carried out in groups of no more than five workers with no inter-mingling between groups.”
The Government will significantly expand the MRT network from around 230km today to 360km by the early 2030s.
This includes opening the remaining stages of the TEL, Circle Line Stage 6, the North East Line extension, Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line.
The TEL will span 43km and serve about 500,000 commuters daily in its initial years.
It is Singapore’s sixth MRT line, with a total of 32 new stations, including eight interchange stations.
Also is in the works is the North-South Corridor (NSC), a 21.5km expressway that will link the northern parts of Singapore to the city centre. Before this latest delay, it was slated to be ready by end-2026.
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