Downtown MRT Line

DTL  Downtown MRT Line Laluan MRT Pusat Bandar 滨海市区地铁线 டவுன்டவுன் எம்ஆர்டி வழி
The Downtown Line is coloured blue on system maps.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
Status	Operational (Stages 1 & 2) Under testing (Stage 3) Under construction (DTL3e)
Termini	Bukit Panjang Chinatown (until 20 October 2017) Expo (from 21 October 2017) Sungei Bedok (2024)
Stations	18 (Operational) (excluding reserved station for DT4)[1] 16 (Under Testing)[1] 2 (Under Construction)
Services	1
Daily ridership	245,000 (Q1 2017)
Operation
Opened	22 December 2013 (Stage 1) 27 December 2015 (Stage 2) 21 October 2017 (Stage 3) 2024 (Stage 3e)
Owner	Land Transport Authority
Operator(s)	SBS Transit DTL[2] (ComfortDelGro Corporation)
Character	Underground
Depot(s)	Gali Batu Kim Chuan East Coast (Future)
Rolling stock	C951/C951A
Technical
Line length	20.9 km (13.0 mi) (operational)[1] 21 km (13 mi) (U/T) 2.2 km (1.4 mi)("U/C")
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 Gali Batu Depot  DT1  BP6  Bukit Panjang  ■ Choa Chu Kang – Via Senja/Petir   DT2  Cashew  DT3  Hillview  DT5  Beauty World Pan Island Expressway  DT6  King Albert Park Bt Timah Canal  DT7  Sixth Avenue  DT8  Tan Kah Kee Farrer Road  ■ HarbourFront – Bishan   DT9  CC19  Botanic Gardens  ■ Sungei Bedok – Woodlands North   DT10  TE11  Stevens  DT11  NS21  Newton  ■ Marina South Pier – Jurong East  Central Expressway  ■ HarbourFront – Punggol   DT12  NE7  Little India  DT13  Rochor Loop  ■ via Bencoolen – via Jalan Besar   ■ Joo Koon – Pasir Ris   DT14  EW12  Bugis  ■ HarbourFront   DT15  CC4  Promenade  ■ Dhoby Ghaut   DT16  CE1  Bayfront  ■ Marina Bay   ■ Jurong East – Marina Bay   DT17  Downtown  ■ Pasir Ris – Joo Koon   DT18  Telok Ayer  DT19  NE4  Chinatown  ■ Punggol – HarbourFront  Singapore River Stage 3: Open 2017  DT20  Fort Canning  ■ HarbourFront – Punggol   ■ Marina South Pier – Jurong East   ■ Bishan – Dhoby Ghaut   DT21  Bencoolen Loop  ■ via Bugis – via Rochor   DT22  Jalan Besar  DT23  Bendemeer Kallang River  DT24  Geylang Bahru Pan Island Expressway  DT25  Mattar  ■ Dhoby Ghaut/Marina Bay – Bishan   DT26  CC10  MacPherson  DT27  Ubi Kim Chuan Depot  DT28  Kaki Bukit  DT29  Bedok North  DT30  Bedok Reservoir  DT31  Tampines West Canal  DT32  EW2  Tampines  ■ Pasir Ris – Joo Koon   DT33  Tampines East Pan Island Expressway  DT34  Upper Changi  DT35  CG1  Expo  ■ Tanah Merah – Changi Airport  Stage 4: Open 2025  DT36  Xilin  DT37  TE31  Sungei Bedok  ■ Woodlands North

The Downtown Line (DTL) is the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. It is being built in 3 stages, with the 4.3-kilometre (2.7 mi) long Stage 1 having opened on 22 December 2013, and the 16.6-kilometre (10.3 mi) long Stage 2 having begun operations on 27 December 2015.^[3][4] The line is 20.9 kilometres (13.0 mi) long with 18 stations from Bukit Panjang (DT1) to Chinatown (DT19). The final stage, Stage 3 is due to be opened on 21 October 2017.^[5][6] while stage 3e is to be completed in 2024.^[7] The line will connect the North-Western and Central-Eastern regions to the downtown of Singapore.

The Downtown Line currently interchanges with the North East Line at Chinatown and Little India, with the East West Line at Bugis, with the Circle Line at Bayfront, Promenade and Botanic Gardens, with the North South Line at Newton, and with the Bukit Panjang LRT at Bukit Panjang. Future extensions of the Downtown Line will interchange with the East West Line at Tampines and Expo, with the Circle Line at MacPherson, and with the Thomson-East Coast Line at Stevens and Sungei Bedok.

This line is the third in Singapore to be entirely underground and, with 3-car trains, the second medium-capacity line after the Circle Line. When fully completed, the line will be about 44 kilometres (27 mi) long with 36 stations and will serve more than half a million commuters daily.^[8] It will also be the longest rapid transit line in Singapore to use completely automated, driverless trains,^[1] and among the longest such lines in the world. Travelling from one end to the other will take around 70 minutes. The line is coloured blue in the rail map.^[2]

The Downtown Line intersects itself at the junction of Bencoolen Street and Rochor Canal Road, near Sim Lim Square. However, there is no interchange station at the intersection.

Overview

The line begins in Bukit Panjang, and then goes through the ‘school district’ and food enclaves of Bukit Timah before entering the central area, passing through Little India before reaching Bugis.

Then, the line connects Bugis to Chinatown directly, which is the first stage of the Downtown line. After this, it goes to Fort Canning, Geylang Bahru and MacPherson.

The line then goes through the industrial areas of Kampong Ubi and Kaki Bukit, before continuing towards the Tampines Regional Centre and Changi Business Park.

Connecting the Downtown line to the Thomson-East Coast line, the DTL3 extension (DTL3e) improves public transport accessibility to the Changi Business Park and Expo area.^[9]

History

LTA's Downtown Line (Stage 1) project office next to Bugis MRT station.

On 14 June 2005, the Land Transport Authority announced the Downtown Extension of the Circle Line to serve the Downtown at Marina Bay area, where an integrated resort (Marina Bay Sands) and Singapore's second botanical garden (Gardens by the Bay) was to be located. The 3.4-kilometre fully underground line was estimated to cost S$1.4 billion. Construction of the extension began in January 2008. During the construction of the North East Line at Chinatown station, platform provisions were built to facilitate an interchange station. In August 2011, SBS Transit won the bid and was appointed to be the operator of the Downtown Line, under a new framework which would see the authority remaining the owner of the line.^[10]

Stage 1 of the Downtown Line began service on 22 December 2013,^[11] with its official inauguration made on the day before by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.^[12]

Stage 2 of the Downtown Line was first conceptualized and announced as the Bukit Timah Line. It was supposedly a 20-kilometre line that would connect the new downtown with the Bukit Panjang, Upper Bukit Timah and Bukit Timah corridor, alleviating the heavy traffic travelling along the sector, but a full route was released. Provisions were provided at Nicoll Highway station which would have seen the line terminating there and interchanging with the Circle Line.^[13] However, the Nicoll Highway collapse and subsequent feasibility works and deemed the old station unusable.^[14] Stage 2 of the Downtown Line is now 16.6-kilometre (10.3 mi) long with 12 stations connecting Bukit Panjang and Rochor stations, including four interchange stations. Construction for Stage 2 began on 3 July 2009 with a groundbreaking ceremony at Beauty World Station.^[15][16][17]

In October 2014, it was announced that Stage 2's opening would be pushed back to the first quarter of 2016. It had to be delayed when main contractor Alpine Bau went bankrupt in mid-2013.^[18] On 28 June 2015, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced that the delay was "completely resolved" by the authorities and Stage 2's opening date was reverted to 27 December 2015.^[19]

Stage 3 of the Downtown Line consists of the original Eastern Region Line that was announced in 2001. The route goes from Chinatown to Expo. The station locations and finalized route were unveiled on 20 August 2010.^[20] Stage 3 of the Downtown line will be 21-kilometre (13 mi) long and serve 16 stations.^[1] It is slated to start operations on 21 October 2017.

To serve the line, the Gali Batu Depot was opened in December 2015 to stable 42 trains. It is situated at part of the former Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery off Woodlands Road.^[21] Also in February that year, the Land Transport Authority announced that the capacity of the depot will be expanded to stable 81 trains by 2019.

Final costs of building the line may reach an estimated about S$20.7 billion, up more than 70% from an initial estimation of S$12 billion.^[22] In January 2013, plans for a southern extension which will run from Expo through the East Coast area, interchanging with the Eastern Region Line were announced for completion by 2025.^[23] On 31 May 2017, LTA announced that Stage 3 of the Downtown Line will commence operations on October 21, 2017.^[24]

DTL3e was announced on 15 August 2014, in conjunction with the announcement of the Thomson-East Coast MRT Line.^[25] Two stations, Xilin MRT Station and Sungei Bedok MRT Station will be added to the Downtown Line, with Sungei Bedok as an interchange station with the Thomson-East Coast Line. It will add an additional 2.2 km to the line with the extension.^[25] Due in 2024, Stage 3e will join the current East West and future Thomson-East Coast lines that runs through Marine Parade.^[26]

Train disruptions

A malfunction in the platform screen doors at Botanic Gardens MRT Station resulted in trains bypassing the station and a seven-hour disruption on Wednesday (3 May). Downtown Line operator SBS Transit said the doors malfunctioned at 5.45am due to a signalling-related fault, and could not open automatically. The fault was rectified at 12.54pm and the platform opened for passenger service.^[27]

Stations

Active Route Map Information System of Downtown Line

The Downtown Line's numbering scheme reserves station code " DT4 " between  DT3  Hillview and  DT5  Beauty World for future use.

Rolling stock

A view of the Chinatown station on the Downtown Line platform.

The rolling stock consists of Bombardier MOVIA C951 cars,^[28] running in a three-car formation. They are stabled at Gali Batu Depot after it opened with Stage 2 of Downtown Line on 27 December 2015. For the period between the operation of Downtown Line Stage 1 and Downtown Line Stage 2, trains were stabled at a maintenance facility that was built at Marina Bay as part of the Circle Line project. Kim Chuan Depot housed the Operations Control Centre for the Downtown Line Stage 1 until Gali Batu Depot was ready to be used.^[29]

On 12 October 2012, the first of 11 trains for the Downtown Line Stage 1 arrived at Jurong Port. It was transported to Kim Chuan Depot to undergo testing by LTA before it was handed over to SBS Transit.^[30] As of 28 February 2013, Bombardier had delivered five of the 11 trains for Downtown Line Stage 1.^[31] LTA together with the operator, SBS Transit, conducted the necessary tests to ensure safety standards, functional performance and systems compatibility requirements were met before revenue service began on 22 December 2013.^[32]

Testing on the Downtown Line Stage 2 has begun during operational hours since 25 October 2015 and rolling stock that was delivered to Gali Batu Depot have commenced service on Stage 1 starting on 21 October 2015. Kim Chuan Depot, together with the adjacent Tai Seng Facility Building will operate on a minor capacity until the Downtown Line Stage 3 opens. A new depot, named the East Coast Integrated Depot will provide additional stabling capacity to the line.

Changes to the first train timings on Sundays

From 14 May 2017 to 27 August 2017, trains on the DTL will start at 7.30am on Sundays (except for Hari Raya Puasa on Jun 25) to facilitate testing between Bukit Panjang and Expo stations to prepare for opening of the DTL Stage 3 on 21 October 2017.

Train control

The Downtown Line is equipped with Siemens (previously Invensys before Siemens acquisition) Trainguard Sirius Communications-based train control (CBTC) moving block signalling system with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 4 (UTO).^[33][34] The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, Controlguide Rail 9000 Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains and Trackguard Westrace MK2 Computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points to be set.^[35][36]

A fall-back signalling system, relying on conventional track-circuit occupancy detection, is included to ensure fully automatic operation and train protection independent of the radio system.

Platform screen doors by Faiveley^[37] provide safety for passengers, offering protection from arriving and departing trains.^[38]

External links

• Downtown Line
• Downtown Line Construction

References

Rail transport in Singapore
Overview	History Nicoll Highway collapse Major disruptions Stations Fares and ticketing EZ-Link NETS FlashPay 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  B  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 C151A C151B C651 C751A C751B C751C C830 C830C C951/C951A Current (LRT) C801 C801A C810 C810A Other Lines Hitachi Monorail Crystal Mover Future CT251 C151C Withdrawn Adtranz C-100
Depots	Current Bishan Changi Gali Batu Kim Chuan Sengkang Ulu Pandan Ten Mile Junction Tuas Under construction Tai Seng Facility Building Mandai East Coast
Companies	ComfortDelGro SBS Transit SMRT Corporation SMRT Trains

Railway lines in Singapore
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)	NSL  North South  EWL  East West  NEL  North East  CCL  Circle  DTL  Downtown  TEL  Thomson-East Coast  JRL  Jurong Region  CRL  Cross Island
Light Rail Transit (LRT)	BPLRT  Bukit Panjang  SKLRT  Sengkang  PGLRT  Punggol
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

Urban Rail Transit in Southeast Asia
Indonesia	Jabodetabek Commuter Line Jakarta MRT  M1   M2  Jakarta LRT  L1   L2   L3  Palembang LRT  L1  Surabaya Commuter Line Kualanamu Railink Soekarno–Hatta Raillink Halim Perdanakusuma Raillink Minangkabau Railink Adisumarmo Railink Jakarta–Bandung HSR
Malaysia	KTM Komuter  1   2   10  KTM Komuter Northern  1   2  Rapid Rail  3   4   5   8   9  Express Rail Link  6   7   ETS  KTM ETS  12  MRT Sungai Buloh–Serdang–Putrajaya Line  11  LRT Bandar Utama–Klang Line  13  MRT Circle Line  HSR  Kuala Lumpur–Singapore HSR  ECR  East Coast Rail Line  RTS  Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS  14  Putrajaya Monorail Penang Rapid Transit Bayan Lepas LRT
Myanmar	Yangon Circular Railway
Philippines	Manila LRT  LRT1   LRT2   LRT4   LRT6  Manila MRT  MRT3   MRT7  Mega Manila Subway  PNR  PNR Metro South Commuter Line North South Commuter Rail
Singapore	Singapore MRT  NSL   EWL   NEL   CCL   DTL   TEL   JRL   CRL  Singapore LRT  BPLRT   SKLRT   PGLRT   HSR Kuala Lumpur–Singapore HSR  RTS Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS
Thailand	Bangkok Mass Transit BTS  BTS   BTS  MRT  MRT   MRT   MRT   MRL   MRL  BMA  MRL   MRL   MRL  SRT SRTET  ARL  SRT Red Lines  SRT   SRT  SRT Commuter      Lopburi Line      Kaeng Khoi Line      Prachinburi Line      Ratchaburi Line      Suphan Buri Line SRT High Speed Railways Bangkok–Chiang Mai Bangkok–Nakhon Ratchasima Bangkok–Hua Hin Bangkok–Rayong Khon Kaen LRT
Vietnam	Hanoi Metro  1   2   2A   3   4   5   6   7   8   M1   M2   M3  Ho Chi Minh City Metro  1   2   3   4   5   6
Note: Under construction & planned lines are in Italics