SINGAPORE: Twelve new six-car trains for the North-South and
East-West Lines (NSEWL) - the final instalment in a batch of 57 to
be put into service from 2016 to 2019 - have been purchased at a
cost of about S$136.8 million, the Land Transport Authority
said.
In a press release on Tuesday (Sep 22), LTA said it has awarded
a contract to a consortium comprising Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
CSR Qingdao Sifang and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) for
the purchase of these trains.
These new trains will be the first trains to feature tip-up
seats for additional flexibility in seat configuration, LTA said.
They will also have three rows of straphangers and triplicated
grab-poles. A Dynamic Route Map Display located at the top of each
door will tell commuters their current location, route information,
and which the side the train doors will open at the next
station.
The 12 trains are the final batch of 57 new trains that will be
running from 2016 to 2019. The first of these 12 trains will arrive
in Singapore in early-2018, and will be tested at North South and
East West Line depots before they are put into service in the
middle of 2019.
From 2015 to 2019, LTA will add 99 more trains to the NSEWL,
North East Line and Circle Line, which will see the overall train
fleet grow by close to 50 per cent. This includes the 57 new trains
that will enter the service from 2016.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which has supplied trains for Japan
and New York City, delivered the first inaugural fleet of MRT
trains in Singapore in 1986, and has supplied most of the trains on
the NSEWL.
- CNA/wl