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SINGAPORE: The opening of the second phase of the Thomson-East Coast MRT line has been further delayed and is now expected to open in the third quarter of next year, the Land Transportation Authority (LTA) said on Monday (December 14). ).
The six stations that make up the second phase of the line, which runs from Springleaf to Caldecott, were originally scheduled to open in late 2020. This was rescheduled for the first quarter of 2021 due to delays caused by the COVID pandemic. -19 and measures to contain the outbreak.
A five-hour line outage on December 4, as a result of a signaling failure, prompted the authority to review the system software “further” with the contractor, the LTA said in a Facebook post.
Rail operator SMRT had then attributed the failure to a “software glitch” in a network component of the signaling system developed by French firm Alstom.
“As the rail systems are complex, we will try to solve as many initial problems as possible before opening the next phase,” said the LTA.
READ: Thomson-East Coast Line second stage to open in early 2021 after delays due to COVID-19: Ong Ye Kung
The first leg of the Thomson-East Coast Line opened in January this year with three stations operating: Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South.
The complete 43km line, which will run from Woodlands to Sungei Bedok, was initially due to be fully operational in 2024, serving some 500,000 commuters per day in the initial years, increasing to around 1 million long-term commuters.
The LTA added that it estimates delays in completion of up to one year on various construction projects, including the Thomson-East Coast, Cross Island and Jurong Region MRT lines, Circle Line Stage 6, as well as the 21.5 North South Corridor. km long.
The revised completion and opening schedules for the remaining stages of these projects are still being finalized, he added.
The delays are due to the suspension of construction work during Singapore’s “circuit breaker” period, along with disruptions to the global supply chain for building materials and a labor shortage due to border closures as a result. of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“COVID-19 has impacted all sectors and its effects are especially pronounced in the construction industry. Although construction has progressively resumed at all LTA work sites since June 2, 2020, strict safe management measures continue to be applied, ”the LTA said.
The authority added that it will continue to explore ways to safely accelerate its projects and enable better connectivity.
