East West MRT Line

EWL  East West MRT Line Laluan MRT Timur Barat 东西地铁线 கிழக்கு மேற்கு எம்ஆர்டி வழி
The East West Line is coloured green on system maps.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
Status	Operational
Termini	Pasir Ris Joo Koon Tuas Link (U/C) Changi Airport Tanah Merah
Stations	31 (excluding the TWE)
Services	4
Operation
Opened	12 December 1987 (as part of North South Line) 4 November 1989 (renamed as East West Line)
Owner	Land Transport Authority
Operator(s)	SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)
Character	Elevated/Underground
Depot(s)	Ulu Pandan Tuas Changi
Rolling stock	C151, C151A, C651, C751B, C151B (Future), C151C (Future)
Technical
Line length	49 km (30 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC Third rail
Operating speed	limit of 80 km/h
Route map Legend  EW1  Pasir Ris Tampines Expressway   ■ Bukit Panjang  EW2  DT32  Tampines Pan Island Expressway  EW3  Simei  CG2  Changi Airport Downtown Line Changi Airport Branch Line  CG1  DT35  Expo   ■ Sungei Bedok   Changi Depot  EW4  Tanah Merah  EW5  Bedok  EW6  Kembangan  EW7  Eunos  EW8  CC9  Paya Lebar ■ HarbourFront   ■ Dhoby Ghaut  EW9  Aljunied  EW10  Kallang Kallang River  EW11  Lavender ■ Bukit Panjang  ■ Sungei Bedok  EW12  DT14  Bugis ■ Dhoby Ghaut  ■ HarbourFront   ■ Jurong East  EW13  NS25  City Hall Singapore River  EW14  NS26  Raffles Place   ■ Marina South Pier    EW15  Tanjong Pagar   ■ Sungei Bedok ■ Punggol  ■ HarbourFront  EW16  NE3  TE17  Outram Park ■ Woodlands North    EW17  Tiong Bahru  EW18  Redhill  EW19  Queenstown  EW20  Commonwealth ■ Dhoby Ghaut   ■ HarbourFront  EW21  CC22  Buona Vista  EW22  Dover  EW23  Clementi Ulu Pandan Depot  EW24  NS1  Jurong East ■ Marina South Pier    EW25  Chinese Garden  EW26  Lakeside  EW27  Boon Lay Boon Lay Extension  EW28  Pioneer  EW29  Joo Koon  EW30  Gul Circle  EW31  Tuas Crescent  EW32  Tuas West Road  EW33  Tuas Link

The East West Line is coloured green in the MRT system map.

Station names of the East-West Line.

The East West Line (EWL) is the second Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 49 kilometres (30 mi) long with 35 stations,^[1] including four stations under construction and to be completed by 2016, known as the Tuas West Extension (TWE), making it the longest MRT line in Singapore. It takes about 70 minutes to travel from one end to the other (Pasir Ris to Joo Koon). The line is coloured green on MRT system maps.

Overview

As its name implies, the line connects central Singapore to both eastern and western parts of the island, with an additional branch to Changi Airport from Tanah Merah, which is operated as a separate shuttle service. There is a short tunnel between Kembangan and Bedok where the line ascends into the hill at Siglap, and there is a longer tunnel due to the space limitations between Kallang and Redhill. The line passes through the centre median of roads in Tanah Merah, Bedok, Queenstown, Commonwealth, Dover and Clementi. It takes commuters to schools (Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Polytechnic are nearby) and places of interest (Jurong Bird Park and Science Centre), and skirts past the three rivers (Singapore River, Rochor River and Kallang River).

Originally, East West Line had a short-working trip that terminated at Tanah Merah for after peak hours, easier to clear but was a rare case from 2011 to 2013 (after that all trains were running to fixed schedules). There was a through connection to the Changi Airport before it changed to a shuttle service from 22 July 2003.

EWL is the only line connecting the east to the downtown area until 2017, when the Downtown Line and Thomson-East Coast Line (East Coast section) are expected to be completed.

History

The East West Line is the second line to be built, when the City Hall to Outram Park segment was opened on 12 December 1987, with through services to Yio Chu Kang. It was extended to Clementi on 12 March 1988 and to Lakeside on 5 November 1988. Additionally, the eastern extension to Tanah Merah was opened on 4 November 1989 (when the current name was adopted to reflect the operational split from the North South Line), and to Pasir Ris on 16 December 1989. The last station of the original system, Boon Lay opened on 6 July 1990. On 18 October 2001 Dover station was opened and then on 25 February 2002 the Expo and Changi Airport stations are opened. On 28 February 2009 the stations Pioneer and Joo Koon was oficially opened to the public.Boon Lay

Tuas West Extension (TWE)

On 11 January 2011, the Tuas West Extension was announced. It is an extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon to Tuas Link. The stations — Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link — will extend MRT connectivity to the Tuas area and is expected to serve more than 100,000 commuters daily.^[2]

When completed in 2016, the Tuas West Extension will be an extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon, consisting of a 7.5 km long twin-tracked MRT viaduct, four aboveground stations and a depot. The MRT viaduct is also integrated with part of a 4.8 km long road viaduct along Pioneer Road, which will increase the road capacity to cope with anticipated increase in traffic. A 26-hectare depot will also be built to provide stabling and maintenance facilities for the additional trains that will be bought for the extension and to cater for future expansion of the line.^[3]

On 4 May 2012, the Land Transport Authority marked the start of construction of the Tuas West Extension with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future Tuas Link station.^[2]

Half-height platform screen door installations

There were calls for platform screen doors to be installed at above-ground stations after several incidents in which passengers were killed or seriously injured by oncoming trains when they fell onto the railway tracks at above-ground stations. Underground stations already featured the doors since 1987. The authorities initially rejected the proposal by casting doubts over functionality and concerns about the high installation costs,^[4] but made an about-turn when the government announced plans to install half-height platform screen doors on the above-ground stations in January 2008, citing lower costs due to it becoming a more common feature worldwide.^[5] They were first installed at Jurong East and Pasir Ris stations in 2009 as trial runs.^[6] Installation of platform screen doors began at Clementi and Lakeside stations on April 2010. On 31 August 2011, the last station, Expo began installation of half-height platform screen doors.^[7]

Timber to concrete sleeper replacement works

Timber sleepers are designed to last 15 to 25 years, and they have to be replaced when they are near the end of their lifespan, or when they show signs of significant wear and tear. The new sleepers installed will allow trains to move along the tracks smoothly and without the current speed restrictions. In order to carry out works at night when trains are not operational, train services were ended earlier on the East West Line. It is expected to be completed by early 2017, and is divided into three phases: Phase 1 (Outram Park - Tanah Merah), Phase 2 (Tanah Merah - Pasir Ris/Changi Airport), Phase 3 (Jurong East - Boon Lay) and Phase 4 (Jurong East - Outram Park). Pioneer and Joo Koon were exempted from the sleeper replacement work as they were recently built.

Summary Timeline

• 12 December 1987: City Hall – Outram Park
• 12 March 1988: Outram Park – Clementi
• 5 November 1988: Clementi – Lakeside
• 4 November 1989: City Hall – Tanah Merah (start of the separation of the North South Line from the East West Line)
• 16 December 1989: Tanah Merah – Pasir Ris
• 6 July 1990: Lakeside – Boon Lay
• 10 January 2001: Tanah Merah – Expo
• 18 October 2001: Dover (Station added on operational line)
• 25 February 2002: Expo – Changi Airport
• 28 February 2009: Boon Lay – Joo Koon
• 2016: Joo Koon — Tuas Link (Currently under construction)

Line Disruptions

On July 7, 2015, the NSEWL was completely shut down due to massive power trips detected. This is the worst breakdown in SMRT history and also the first major breakdown for EWL. Investigations have completed and the cause was narrowed down to damaged insulators which failed to supply power properly.

Stations

The East West Line plies the following routes:

• Pasir Ris - Joo Koon
• Tanah Merah - Changi Airport (Changi Airport Branch Line)

SMRT used to operate the branch sector of  EW4 Tanah Merah MRT Station to  CG2 Changi Airport as a through line from Boon Lay from 18 November 2001 until 22 July 2003, when it was replaced with a shuttle service.^[8]

Similarly to the preceding Circle and Downtown MRT Lines announced earlier, the four stations along the Tuas West Extension were open for public consultation from 16 December 2011 to 15 January 2012. The finalised station names were announced on 13 April 2012.^[9]

Rolling stock

Four batches of rolling stock are in service on the line, they are the C151s, the C651s, the C751Bs and the C151As. These trains operate from the two depots along the line, the Ulu Pandan Depot between Jurong East and Clementi, the Changi Depot near Tanah Merah and 2016, the Tuas Depot located near Tuas Checkpoint.

Train Control

The East West Line is currently equipped with Westinghouse fixed block signalling system with Automatic train control with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 3 (DTO). The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed and Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains.

The current signalling system is currently phasing out and will be replaced by a new Thales SelTrac® Communications-based train control (CBTC) moving block signalling system^[10]

The new signalling system is expected to be operational by 2018 and trains will run with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 3 (DTO). The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, NetTrac MT Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains and a Computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points to be set.

Automatic platform screen doors by Westinghouse were originally installed when the line opened and Automatic Platform Screen Gates were installed at a later date on elevated stations except for Tuas West Extensions stations, where they were manufactured by Fangda Group.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) East West Line.

• East West Line

Rail Transport in Singapore Overview History Nicoll Highway collapse Major disruptions Stations Fares and ticketing EZ-Link NETS CEPAS Facilities STARiS Safety Security Public Transport Security Command MRT Lines Current  NSL  North South  EWL  East West  NEL  North East  CCL  Circle  DTL  Downtown Under construction  TEL  Thomson-East Coast Future  JRL  Jurong Region  CRL  Cross Island Defunct ■ Branch LRT Lines Current  BPLRT  Bukit Panjang  SKLRT  Sengkang  PGLRT  Punggol Other Lines Current Sentosa Express Changi Airport Skytrain Defunct Jurong Bird Park Panorail Sentosa Monorail Rolling stock Current (MRT) C151 C651 C751B C751A C830 C151A C951 C830C C751C Current (LRT) C801 C801A C810 Other Lines Hitachi Monorail Crystal Mover (Skytrain) Future C151B CT251 C151C C810A Defunct Adtranz C-100 Depots Current Bishan Changi Gali Batu Kim Chuan Sengkang Ulu Pandan Ten Mile Junction Under construction Tuas Mandai Companies ComfortDelGro SBS Transit SMRT Corporation SMRT Trains

Rail transport in Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)  NSL  North South SMRT  EWL  East West SMRT  NEL  North East SBST  CCL  Circle SMRT  DTL  Downtown SBST  TEL  Thomson-East Coast  JRL  Jurong Region  CRL  Cross Island Light Rail Transit (LRT)  BPLRT  Bukit Panjang SMRT  SKLRT  Sengkang SBST  PGLRT  Punggol SBST International Intercity North-South KTM Singapore-Johor RTS Kuala Lumpur–Singapore High Speed Rail Other lines Changi Airport Skytrain CAAS Sentosa Express SDC Defunct lines Jurong BirdPark Panorail WRS Sentosa Monorail SDC Operators are denoted in brackets, planned or under construction lines in italics

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