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SINGAPORE – Phase 2 of the Thomson-East Coast (TEL) MRT line will be delayed for another six months until the third quarter of 2021 to review the rail system software, the Land Transportation Authority (LTA) said on Monday (December 14). ).
Additionally, other major rail and highway infrastructure projects will be delayed for up to a year after works were suspended during the circuit breaker earlier this year, it added in a statement.
These include stages three and four of the TEL, Cross Island Line, Jurong Region Line, Circle Line stage 6 and the North South Corridor.
The LTA also attributed the delays to other factors induced by Covid-19, such as disruptions in the global supply chain for building materials and a general shortage of labor due to border closures.
He said the revised completion and opening schedules for these projects are still being finalized, and he will post updates in due course.
The LTA’s announcement of the TEL stage two delay follows an incident earlier this month in which train services between Woodlands North and Woodlands South stations on the TEL were interrupted for more than five hours due to a signaling fault.
Along with Woodlands station, the two stations are on stage one of the TEL, which has been open since January 31.
TEL operator SMRT later said the failure was caused by a software glitch in the network component of the signaling system. As a result, the component had to be reconfigured before the system could reboot.
Said the LTA: “The recent TEL outage prompted LTA to review the system software, which contributed to the delay, further with our contractor.
“Since the rail systems are complex, we better try to fix as many initial problems as possible before opening the next phase. This is a key reason why TEL is opening in phases.”
The completion of six stations on TEL stage two, from Springleaf to Caldecott, was initially delayed three months from the end of this year to the first quarter of 2021 due to Covid-19.
On Monday, the LTA said construction has progressively resumed at all of its work sites since June 2.
“Our contractors have adhered to strict safe management measures at work sites, including mandatory daily temperature monitoring, using SafeEntry or TraceTogether to check in and out, and ensuring work is carried out in groups no more than five workers without interference – mixing between groups. “
The Government will significantly expand the MRT network from about 230 km today to 360 km in the early 2030s.
This includes the opening of the remaining TEL stages, Circle Line Stage 6, the extension of the North East Line, Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line.
The TEL will span 43 km and serve some 500,000 passengers a day in its early years.
It is Singapore’s sixth MRT line, with a total of 32 new stations, including eight interchange stations.
Work is also underway on the North-South Corridor (NSC), a 21.5km highway that will link the northern part of Singapore with the city center. Before this latest delay, it was scheduled to be ready by the end of 2026.
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