Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced the alignment and 16 station locations on its upcoming 21km long entirely underground Downtown Line 3 (DTL3).
The 21km long, 5.8m diameter i.d. twin-tube tunnel DTL3 is the final stretch of the US$8.9bn 42km long Downtown Line and will be constructed significantly by a multitude of EPBMs. The owner designed tunnel link will enhance rail connectivity in the eastern corridors to the Central Business District (CBD) and developments in the Marina Bay area. The 16 stations include three interchange stations at MacPherson, Tampines and Expo. These interchanges will link to the Circle Line (CCL) and the East West Line (EWL), providing greater accessibility and significantly improve travel time for commuters.
Mr Lim Bok Ngam, Acting Chief Executive, LTA said: “Commercial and residential developments along DTL3 will now have easy access to the Marina Bay area, including the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and the Marina Bay Financial Centre. DTL3 will expand our Rail Transit System (RTS) network further and provide greater connectivity for commuters, thus increasing the appeal of public transport”.
With three interchange stations, DTL3 will also improve accessibility to other areas:
The MacPherson interchange station will link DTL3 to CCL. Workers coming from the north and north-west of Singapore who now rely on buses to travel will be able to conveniently access the industrial estates of Ubi and Kaki Bukit, which are one to two stations away from MacPherson station.
The DTL Tampines station will form the future Tampines transport hub which will provide seamless access for commuters who frequent the Tampines Regional Centre.
The Expo interchange station will link DTL3 to EWL and provide convenient access for companies located in the Changi Business Park. The station will also serve the needs of students from the future university that will be located within walking distance of the two stations.
The Government announced its decision to build the DTL in three stages on 27 April 2007. All civil construction contracts for DTL 1 and 2 have been awarded and the DTL3 tunnelling contracts are scheduled for award around October this year.
DTL1 is 4.3km with 6 stations, with completion scheduled for 2013, whilst DTL2 is 16.6km long with 12 stations and has a completion date of 2015.
When fully operational in 2017, the 34 stations on DTL will serve about 500,000 commuters daily.
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