$12-billion ticket downtown

You start at Bukit Panjang, go via Upper Bukit Timah Road onto Dunearn Road, and pass the Botanic Gardens, Newton, Little India and Bugis before you reach the Marina Bay area.

If you want to head further east, carry on via Cross Street and Jalan Besar, past MacPherson, Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir to Tampines and, finally, the Singapore Expo.

And you can do it without ever getting into a traffic jam.

That is the route of the next major addition to Singapore’s rail network, the Downtown Line (DTL), a seamless 40-km link that will run mostly underground. It will cost $12 billion and the Government has given the green light for its construction now that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has completed its feasibility studies, Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced on Friday.

The DTL will have 11 interchange stations with the existing lines and the upcoming Circle Line, as well as 22 other stations. When fully completed in 2018, an average daily ridership of 500,000 is expected, adding to the 1.4-million daily passenger trips on the MRT now.

The project will be developed in three phases, starting with the 4.3km Downtown Extension (DTE). The LTA has closed two tenders and will be awarding the first two civil contracts, for the Cross Street and Chinatown stations, later this year. The six-station DTE between Bugis and Chinatown will be completed by 2013.

The Circle Line will also be extended to Bayfront Station from Promenade Station, and completed in 2012.

By 2015, the second stage of the DTL — the 12-station north-west corridor to Bukit Panjang LRT — will be completed. The final stage of the line will be the 15-station eastern corridor.

Besides catering to developments in the new downtown at Marina, the DTL is expected to enable the Rapid Transit rail system to become the backbone of the public transport system.

Currently, Singapore’s rail density is low — taking into account existing track and that to come from the Circle Line and the Boon Lay extension, there is 30km of track per million inhabitants. In London, that number is 163km per million; in Tokyo, 83km per million.

“The DTL is very important because it goes into areas not currently served by the MRT,” said Mr Lim, who cited the Bukit Timah corridor as “heavily congested”.

With the DTL, a Choa Chu Kang or Bukit Batok resident who currently takes the train to the city could shave up to 15 minutes off his or her hour-long journey.

And when the eastern corridor is ready in 2018, a Bedok Reservoir resident would no longer need to take feeder buses, and can save up to 10 minutes travelling to the city.

The LTA is studying the alignment of the line and the station locations. A review will be completed by next year for Stage 2 and by 2010 for Stage 3. Unlike the current MRT lines and the NEL, the DTL will be a medium rail line similar to the Circle Line. Passenger traffic will be less intense.

The decision on who gets to operate the DTL will only be made much later, Mr Lim told reporters on the sidelines of the LTA Workplan Seminar.

On the possibility of a merger between the two main public transport operators, SMRT and SBS Transit, he said: “It’s good that people are coming forward with proposals and suggestions — not just SBS Transit but others have come forward. It’s good … that people debate the issues and get engaged in this public transport issue.

“On our part, we’ll consider all these proposals in our ongoing land transport review. But our aim is to ensure we have a more efficient, more integrated public transport system that will serve commuters well.”

Source : Weekend Today - 28 Apr 2007