SINGAPORE, Sept 27 — Seven MRT train stations on the East-West Line (EWL) from Tiong Bahru to Clementi will close earlier than usual on Fridays and Saturdays next month, as rail operator SMRT continues its railway maintenance and improvement works on the line.
The affected stations will close at about 11pm every Friday and Saturday in October, SMRT said in a statement yesterday.
During the early closure, shuttle buses will ply between the Jurong East and Outram Park stations every two to five minutes in both directions, stopping at bus stops near the stations.
"As the timing of the last trains departing each station on affected days will vary, commuters are advised to check for station-specific timings on SMRT Trains' website and social media platforms when planning their journeys on affected dates," it said.
The early closure is not just for maintenance and improvement works, SMRT said, it will give engineers more time to safely upgrade the power supply system along the EWL.
"Renewing the power supply system involves the replacement of nearly 1,300km of power cables, 250km of fibre optic cables and more than 170 sub-stations," it added.
Real-time condition monitoring systems will also be introduced to "monitor the health of power equipment and identify potential faults, to improve train service reliability".
In May this year, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced that the power supply system on the North-South and East-West MRT lines (NSEWL) would be renewed.
Khaw said that the project is a "laborious task" that cannot be rushed.
Given the high-voltage working environment, the transport authorities and rail operator will take every precaution to ensure the project is implemented smoothly and safely, he added.
The Land Transport Authority said in February that three contracts were awarded to upgrade and renew the power supply and track circuit systems on the NSEWL.
Two contracts were awarded to Meiden Singapore to upgrade and renew the NSEWL's power supply system, while the third was awarded to a consortium comprising Siemens and Engie Services Singapore to replace the NSEWL's track circuit system.
SMRT expects the power supply system renewal project, which costs nearly S$900 million (RM2.7 billion) for the NSEWL, to be completed by the early 2020s. — TODAY
