Thomson-East Coast Line may be extended to Changi Airport

At the ground-breaking ceremony of the East Coast stretch of Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) at the Marina Parade project site on Thursday (July 21), the Minister for Transport, Khaw Boon Wan stated that there is a possibility of extending the TEL from Sungei Bedok to the upcoming Terminal 5 of Changi Airport.

“It would provide a direct connection from the airport to the city. This would benefit travellers and airport staff,” Mr Khaw said.

Mr Khaw also stated that the authorities are assessing the feasibility to extend the Cross Island Line (CRL) to Terminal 5 and the new industrial zone around the airport.

Mr Khaw added that the extension will allow traveller from Kuala Lumpur to hop onto the upcoming High-Speed Rail to Jurong Eas, and transit to Changi Airport via the CRL. “Together, these options enable many commuters who use the MRT network to get from all parts of the island to the airport with no more than one transfer. More details will be announced after the completion of the engineering feasibility studies for the TEL and CRL,” he said.

Current plans for the 43km-long TEL include eight transit stations and one interchange section, connected to the Downtown Line 3 extension (DTL3e) in Sungei Bedok. The groundbreaking ceremony also marked the start of the construction for the 2.2 km-long DTL3e and the East Coast Integrated Depot. It is determined to open in five phases, between 2019 and 2024.

The TEL will be Singapore’s sixth MRT line. It will be stretched for 43 kilometers when completed that will make it the third-longest MRT line in the country.

The integrated depot will be built within a 36-hectare site and the main train depot building will be over 1 km. The facility will have depots of existing East-West Line, Downtown Line and TEL stacked on top of each other and a bus depot will be built next to it.

The Land Transport Authority recently visited  London on a study trip. It studied the automatic train inspection facility that used visual, impact and temperature sensors to observe train conditions. And the depot will adapt the technology from the London subway system.

“They have also installed electrical sensors on their track circuits, so that they can monitor both the tracks, as well as the trains that pass through,” said the minister. “The operators then analyse and act on the data collected, to pick up and follow up on symptoms of failure before the failure actually happens. These are useful innovations and we will see what we can adapt for Singapore.”

The entire East Coast stretch of the TEL will be built on reclaimed land. The line will have 9 stations and 1 interchange station. The company also announced the final names for the 10 station :