Phase 2 of Cross Island Line to have 6 underground stations, including West Coast, Jurong Lake District, Turf City
SINGAPORE — The second phase of the Cross Island Line was unveiled on Tuesday (Sept 20), featuring six underground stations in areas such as Turf City, West Coast and Jurong Lake District. When completed, a passenger going from West Coast to Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, for example, will have their travel time slashed from 70 to 30 minutes.
- The Land Transport Authority announced details of the second phase of the Cross Island Line in the MRT network
- It will feature six underground stations servicing areas such as Turf City, West Coast and the Jurong Lake District
- Construction work is set to begin in 2023, with the stations due to open in 2032
SINGAPORE — The second phase of the Cross Island Line was unveiled on Tuesday (Sept 20), featuring six underground stations in areas such as Turf City, West Coast and Jurong Lake District. When completed, a passenger going from West Coast to Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, for example, will have their travel time slashed from 70 to 30 minutes.
In a joint statement, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) said that the construction works for the MRT stations will begin next year, and the stations will open by 2032.
The six stations will span 15km, and are: Turf City, King Albert Park, Maju, Clementi, West Coast and Jurong Lake District.
Clementi station will be an interchange with the East-West Line, while King Albert Park will be an interchange with the Downtown Line.
A total of about 40,000 households, who live within 10 minutes’ walk of one of these six stations, stand to benefit from the second phase of the Cross Island Line.
For instance, a resident at Hougang looking to travel to Ngee Ann Polytechnic will take 35 minutes to do so after the second phase is operational, compared to 65 minutes by public transport now.
A resident in West Coast will take 30 minutes to get to Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, as opposed to the travelling time of 70 minutes now.
The six stations will be an addition to the 12 stations of the Cross Island Line's first construction phase to be completed by 2030, as well as the four stations on the Cross Island Line-Punggol extension to be completed by 2032.
The second phase of the Cross Island Line will start from Bright Hill station, part of the first phase, while the third phase will start from the station in Jurong Lake District from the second phase and stretch to the Jurong Industrial Estate.
In a speech on Tuesday touching on the new development, Transport Minister S Iswaran said : "Our starting point is to make public transport the choice mode of commuting.
"In this regard, the Cross Island Line will improve connectivity, reliability and convenience, and make the switch from private to public transport more attractive."
He was speaking at the worksite of the East Coast Integrated Depot at Changi East, a four-in-one depot that will integrate three train depots and one bus depot in a single site. This will be completed in 2025.
To facilitate the construction of the second phase, three partial lots of private land will be acquired by the Government.
Two of these lots are from industrial units owned by industrial landlord JTC Corporation at Pandan Loop Industrial Estate, located at the site of the West Coast station. These are now leased to private entities. The acquisition process will be completed by September 2024.
The third lot will be for a stratum of underground space located under a privately owned ground-level car park at the Casa Esperanza Condominium in Bukit Timah, at the site of the upcoming King Albert Park station.
In response to TODAY's queries, LTA said that 18 parking lots will be affected by construction works, and that the construction work is expected to take about six years.
The residents will not need to move out of their apartments and temporary facilities will be provided by LTA to "maintain uninterrupted access".
When construction works in the underground space is completed, the parking lots will be reinstated.
The acquisition process will be completed by 2024, and the stakeholders including the condo management and residents will be notified of the construction schedule once it is confirmed.
SLA gazetted the acquisition of the affected land on Tuesday.
The compensation will be based on the market value of the acquired land and subterranean space as at the date of acquisition gazette, in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act.
“SLA and LTA will work closely with the affected landowners and sublessees and assist them through the acquisition process,” the authorities said in the statement.
They added that the environmental impact study and heritage impact assessment for the second phase of the Cross Island Line construction have been completed and the reports will be published on the LTA and Urban Redevelopment Authority's websites at the end of this month for public feedback. The feedback period will be 30 days.
The construction works for the second phase between King Albert Park and Maju station will skirt the premises of Clementi Forest but not run directly under it, LTA confirmed.
Engineering studies for Cross Island Line's third phase, which will serve the Jurong Industrial Estate, are ongoing, the authorities said.
“More details will be announced after these studies are completed.”
Ms Foo Mee Har, who was present at the announcement of Cross Island Line's second phase by Mr Iswaran, said that the new West Coast station will "totally transform" the transport options for residents in West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC), of which she is Member of Parliament (MP).
For example, residents going from the Ayer Rajah area to Clementi will see travelling time reduced by 20 minutes. "And those who are making their way to the east will now have a direct connectivity from the west to the east... and the travel time will be substantially cut," she said.
Speaking to TODAY, Mr Christopher De Souza, MP for Holland Bukit Timah GRC, spoke about the proximity of the train line to natural habitats such as the Clementi Forest, and said that LTA and its contractors will "certainly be very cognisant" of any environmental impact that construction may have on the natural habitat.
"This is an underground line, so that is in and of itself a lot less disruptive," he added.