Tan Kah Kee MRT Station

DT8  Tan Kah Kee MRT Station 陈嘉庚地铁站 தான் கா கீ Stesen MRT Tan Kah Kee
Rapid transit
Coordinates	1°19′34″N 103°48′26″E / 1.326039°N 103.807169°E / 1.326039; 103.807169
Operated by	SBS Transit DTL
Line(s)	Downtown Line
Platforms	Island
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus, Taxi
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	DT8
History
Opened	Q1 2016
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station Sixth Avenue towards Bukit Panjang Downtown Line Stage 2 (Under Testing) Botanic Gardens towards Expo Downtown Line Future service Botanic Gardens towards Sungei Bedok
Location

Tan Kah Kee MRT Station (DT8) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the Downtown Line Stage 2 in Singapore, formerly known as the Bukit Timah Line.The station will serve the Bukit Timah corridor just north of the junction between Bukit Timah Road and Duchess Avenue, and is within walking distance to several schools in the area, including Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School, Raffles Girls' Primary School and National Junior College.^[1]

History

Naming

As part of the Downtown Line Stage 2 land Transport Authority (LTA) survey in July 2008, suggestions for the name of the station was open to public. Students from nearby Hwa Chong Institution suggested for the station to be named Hwa Chong as the station was to be built in Hwa Chong compounds. A Facebook group has been set up to promote their cause.^[2] Despite this, LTA did not include Hwa Chong as one of the options for the public to select, reasoning that stations should not be named after landmarks or buildings. Instead, Watten (after nearby Watten Estate) and Kah Kee (after the founder of Hwa Chong Institution, Tan Kah Kee) were proposed by the LTA alongside the working name Duchess in October 2008.

It was believed the students and staff of Hwa Chong Institution wanted the option Kah Kee to be chosen and Facebook groups were used to promote their cause.^[3]

On June 16, 2009, LTA announced the station's name was to be Tan Kah Kee, marking the first time that a person's full name was used for the name of an MRT station and also marking the first time that a MRT station name that did not relate to where the station was located is used.

Cracks appearing on homes near the station

The Land Transport Authority has taken steps to repair damages to at least 40 Watten Estate homes, believed to be linked to the construction of the Downtown Line. Residents of the terraced and semi-detached houses at Bukit Timah complained that they began noticing hairline cracks in walls inside and outside their homes between July and August 2012. They added that cracks began widening in those weeks. Besides cracks, some car porch roofs and walls had shifted, and some gates could no longer open. The houses in the upscale neighbourhood where home prices start in the millions, are across from the site of the upcoming Tan Kah Kee MRT station. Checks were made by LTA and the houses were found to be structurally safe.^[4]

Station layout

Transport connections

Rail

References