LTA buys 12 more trains for North-South and East-West lines

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said today (Sept 22) that it has inked a S$136.8-million deal to purchase 12 new six-car trains for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL).

These 12 trains will be the final batch of the 57 new trains that will progressively be put into service from 2016 to 2019. The first of these 12 trains will arrive in Singapore in early 2018, and will undergo testing at the NSEWL depots before they are put into service around mid-2019, according to the LTA.

These NSEWL trains will be the first to feature tip-up seats that provide additional flexibility in seat configuration. They will also come with commuter-centric features such as three rows of straphangers and triplicated grab-poles for standing passengers.

Commuters on the new trains will also be able to refer to a dynamic route map display located at the top of each door to identify their current location, obtain route information and learn which side the train doors will open at the next stop.

The contract has been awarded to a consortium led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, CSR Qingdao Sifang and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore), which is currently in the process of delivering 91 trains for the Thomson-East Coast Line.

Kawasaki has supplied most of the trains on the NSEWL, starting with the inaugural fleet of 66 six-car trains in 1986. Additional fleets of 56 trains delivered in 1999, 2011 and 2013 were also supplied by Kawasaki.

From this year through 2019, 99 more trains will be added to the NSEWL, North East Line (NEL) and Circle Line (CCL), increasing the overall train fleet size by nearly 50 per cent. This includes the 57 new trains for the NSEWL which will enter service from 2016. By the end of 2016, 18 new trains for the NEL and 24 for the CCL would be fully deployed.

“LTA will continue to monitor the demand along rail lines and work together with rail operators to augment the capacity and cater to the long-term projected demand,” said the LTA in a news release.