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New MRT station between Sembawang, Yishun to be built

SINGAPORE — More than a year since the authorities said they were studying the possibility of building an MRT station between Yishun and Sembawang on the North-South Line, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew confirmed yesterday that the station will be built and it will be called Canberra.

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SINGAPORE — More than a year since the authorities said they were studying the possibility of building an MRT station between Yishun and Sembawang on the North-South Line, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew confirmed yesterday that the station will be built and it will be called Canberra.

The station was proposed in anticipation of future developments in that area. The Urban Development Authority’s draft masterplan last year showed Sembawang will see new housing areas along Canberra Link, among other new developments.

Yesterday, Mr Lui said the feasibility study had been completed and the Land Transport Authority would provide more details later. This will include information on the station’s location and date of completion.

Civil servant Derek Chew, 25, whose workplace is located between Yishun and Sembawang stations, said the new station will ease his commute. Currently he has to alight at either station and take a bus.

“It’s quite troublesome to get there, as Yishun is too far and Sembawang is not near enough,” he said. An extra station will bring him closer to his workplace and reduce his bus travelling time, he added.

Mr Lui was speaking at the Thomson Line’s groundbreaking ceremony at Woodlands, which marked the start of its construction. The 30km-long Thomson Line will be completed in three phases from 2019 to 2021 and will have 22 stations. When fully completed, it will run largely parallel to the North-South Line and provide an additional 60 per cent capacity along the North-South corridor.

It will serve housing estates in the northern and central areas, including Woodlands and Sin Ming, and connect them to the city and the rest of the network. A daily ridership of about 400,000 commuters is projected.

Mr Lui said good progress has been made on the construction tenders and the three remaining contracts will be awarded by the end of the year. Singaporeans will continue to see new lines and extensions over the next three years, such as the North-South Line Extension, to be opened later this year, the Tuas West Extension in 2016, and the Downtown Line, which will be fully opened in 2017.

“All these are exciting plans and it will require the ongoing commitment by the Government to fund this in full,” he added.

Mr Henry Foo, director of the team in charge of stations such as Orchard Boulevard, said there will be “minimum impact to the traffic flow”.

There will be no reduction in the number of lanes, adequate traffic signs upstream of the diverted section and advance information circulars to adjacent stakeholders, he said.

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