City Hall MRT Station

City Hall MRT Station (NS25/EW13) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station in Singapore, that is part of the North South Line and the East West Line in Singapore, and serves as an interchange station between the two lines.

It is located in the Civic District in the Downtown Core, which is within the Central Area, the central business district of Singapore. It is situated underground, beneath the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, and is thus east of the Singapore River. The commercial district of Raffles Place and the respective Raffles Place MRT Station is located across the River. City Hall MRT Station is one of the more prominent and busier stations within Singapore's transport system, especially being an interchange station located within the Central Area. The national monument of City Hall is within walking distance from the MRT station.

On the ticket level of the station, it leads directly up to street level, with access by escalator, and has two exits, one leading up to North Bridge Road, and one leading to the Raffles City and to the adjacent Stamford Road. The underground CityLink Mall is also linked to the station, providing access to Suntec City, Marina Square, Esplanade Theatres and, along with Raffles City, the Esplanade MRT Station on the Circle Line.

The crowd at this station during the peak hour is rivalled by only Orchard and possibly Dhoby Ghaut, Jurong East, Tampines, Yishun, Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park.

There is a mural along the wall of the station called Vitreous Enamelled Mural by Simon Wong. However, this art piece is not under the Art in Transit scheme.

Additionally, it is one of the 4 MRT stations to appear in the Uniquely Singapore Edition of Monopoly. It was also mentioned in the 2009 film Whiteout

Incidents

Escalator Accident

On May 13, 2003, an upward escalator at the station suddenly reversed, flinging some 20 people on it backwards, including a woman who was pregnant.

Emergency Exercise

On June 5, 2008, 280 youths spent the night under City Hall MRT station, learning how to deal with an emergency in a train tunnel.

At around midnight, the young campers boarded a train and as the train departed, there was a simulated bomb explosion. They activated the detrainment ramps at both ends of the train, and evacuated to safety via an escape shaft. The students also used the items from their Ready Bags to "survive" the attack.^[1]

MRT Malfunction

On December 30, 2008, trains from City Hall to Tiong Bahru MRT Stations were disrupted at Tanjong Pagar MRT Station because an error on the train was found. So, passengers had to wait for another train to arrive.

2011 MRT Disruptions

Disruption 1

About 2,800 commuters were affected by a 8.5 minute delay on the East-West Line towards Pasir Ris at 7.25 pm on Sep 23 2011.

An SMRT spokesman said passengers on an eastbound train were asked to alight at City Hall MRT Station due to a train fault.

To minimize the impact to other passengers and to maintain eastbound train service, passengers on a westbound train were asked to alight at Bugis MRT Station and serve eastbound passengers, the spokesman said. ^[2]

Disruption 2

The most recent disruption was on December 15, 2011. A train service heading northbound had been stuck up by a damaged power rail at about 7pm, causing a train disruption along both directions. Southbound services were turned around at Ang Mo Kio and passengers have to take a bus bridging service to continue their journey to Marina Bay. Southbound services resumed as per normal from 9pm, but northbound services between Marina Bay and Bishan stations were closed for the night. SMRT staff are working around the clock to repair the damage and northbound trains were resumed at 11.40pm. ^[3] A 25-year-old woman was conveyed to the hospital from Orchard MRT station as she suffered breathing difficulties around 8pm. About two hours later, a 41-year-old woman was also sent to SGH in a semi-conscious state from Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station.

The SMRT CEO apologised for the incident and SMRT will be reviewing its standard operating procedures and will be working to improve its communication strategies. 127,000 people were affected by this disruption, described as the largest disruption since MRT services began in 1987. ^[4] It was believed that this was the second consecutive train disruption in two days, the other was on the Circle Line on the morning of December 14, 2011 when services from Marymount to one-north stations were disrupted.

The disruption was made significant due to the following reasons -

1. A 25-year-old woman was conveyed to the hospital from Orchard MRT station for breathing difficulties around 8pm. About two hours later, a 41-year-old woman was also sent to SGH in a semi-conscious state from Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station.
2. The faulty third rail damaged the collector shoes of four trains, causing them to stall - one train at Braddell station, one before Orchard station and two trains at Dhoby Ghaut station. 1000 passengers were trapped in the 4 trains.
3. One of the four trains trapped in the tunnel saw its glass door smashed as passengers complained of a lack of ventilation. There was also no lighting at some of the stations and trains due to the power trip.
4. A message sent out to SMRT cab drivers, as "Income opportunity. Dear partners, there is a breakdown in our MRT train services from Bishan MRT to Marina Bay MRT stretch of stations.", was photographed and uploaded on Twitter. SMRT apologised for the message the next day.

Two days after this disruption, another disruption took place along the North South Line on December 17, 2011 from 7.09am to 1.48pm, which happened after a third rail cover dislodged between Novena and Newton stations, causing services to be disrupted between Marina Bay and Newton stations.

Station Layout

Exits

• A – Raffles City, Swissôtel The Stamford, Fairmont Singapore, SMRT Headquarters and Singapore Management University (SMU).
• B – St. Andrew's Cathedral, Funan DigitaLife Mall, City Hall, Padang, Supreme Court, Asian Civilisations Museum (Empress Place), Esplanade MRT Station/Xchange
• C – CityLink Mall, Suntec City, Raffles Hotel, CHIJMES, One Raffles Link, Marina Square, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Millenia Walk, Esplanade MRT Station/Xchange

Transport Connections

Rail

Bus

The following bus services pass by the bus stops along North Bridge Road:

References