Bishan MRT Station

NS17  CC15  Bishan MRT Station 碧山地铁站 பீஷான் Stesen MRT Bishan
Rapid transit
Circle Line (Dhoby Ghaut-bound) platform of Bishan MRT station.
Location	200 Bishan Road 17 Bishan Place Singapore 579827 / 579842
Coordinates	1°21′04″N 103°50′54″E / 1.351236°N 103.848456°E / 1.351236; 103.848456
Operated by	SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)
Line(s)	North South Line   Circle Line
Platforms	Separated Side (North South Line) Island (Circle Line)
Tracks	4
Connections	Bus, Taxi
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	4
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	NS17  CC15
History
Opened	7 November 1987 (North South Line) 28 May 2009 (Circle Line)
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station Ang Mo Kio towards Jurong East North South Line Braddell towards Marina South Pier Lorong Chuan towards Dhoby Ghaut Circle Line Marymount towards HarbourFront
Location

Concourse level of Bishan Station

Bishan MRT Station (NS17/CC15) is a Singapore Mass Rapid Transit interchange station along the North South Line and the Circle Line that serves the Bishan community, especially that of Bishan East. The station is located in Central Singapore, along Bishan Road, close to the town centre of Bishan. On the North South Line, some trains from Bishan Depot arrive at platform B of the station to travel southbound towards Marina South Pier for evening peak period services. An underpass allows commuters to transfer from one line to the other. Bishan followed the same town identical name, where prior to the renaming in 1985, it was known as "Kampong San Teng" or "San Teng", just before the exhumation of the cemetery began in 1977 and completed in 1983. The kampong was demolished in 1985 to make way for the second phase of Bishan New Town. There was a delay of the exhumation of Kampong San Teng which is supposed to be for Ang Mo Kio Neighbourhood 8 and 9 in 1977.

Art in Transit

The Circle Line section of this station displays the Art in Transit artwork Move!. There are three murals created by Soh Ee Shaun depicting landmarks that residents of the Bishan area identify with.

Cultural impact

Being located on the site of the Peck San Theng cemetery, the station is rumoured to be haunted, and has been the subject of several Singaporean urban legends, as well as the site for alleged ghost encounters. The newspaper The Sunday Times ran an article debunking an urban legend associated with the station, along with an article featuring an account by a passenger who claimed that, while riding on a train passing through the station one morning in the early 1990s, she was groped by several unseen hands before passing out. She was later revived by fellow passengers. There are also other alleged encounters of ghosts and other entities by several passengers in and around the station, such as headless figures, footsteps coming from the roof of the train, and phantom passengers who do not cast reflections on the train windows.

Circle Line linkage and changes to the station

Major alterations were performed on the original North South Line station to be linked to the Circle Line. A new air-conditioned southbound platform to serve the southbound trains (heading towards Marina South Pier) was officially opened by the then Minister for Transport, Mr Raymond Lim on 27 July 2008, a few days before National Day. The original platform is now dedicated to only northbound train services (heading towards Jurong East). A wall now separate the southbound tracks and the northbound platform, and southbound train doors no longer open on the right towards the old platform. The northbound platform was also upgraded with air conditioning and full height platform screen doors where train doors open on the right, and was officially completed on 22 May 2009. It was formerly the only underground MRT station without the air-conditioning and Full-Height Platform Screen Doors between 1987 and 2008. Now, it has since got its North South Line platforms separated to make space for the linkage to Circle line.

North South Line platform at Bishan MRT station between 1987 and 2008, before Platform Screen Doors were installed.

Noise barriers

Due to the close proximity of a nearby tunnel portal to residential apartment blocks, the construction of a two-metre tall barriers stretching 180 metres in length started in September and completed by second quarter of 2012. It will be insulated with noise absorptive materials such as rock wool.^[1]

Station layout

Exits

• A to C : Junction 8, Bishan Toa Payoh TC, Bishan Library, Bishan NPP, CPF Bishan Bldg, Raffles Institution, Bishan CC
• D : MOE Language Ctr (Bishan), Bishan Swimming Cplx, Kuo Chuan Presby Pri Sch, Bishan Sports Hall/Stadium, Kuo Chuan Presby Sec Sch
• E : Junction 8

Transport connections

Rail

References

External links

• Official website