SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has
awarded the contracts to purchase 18 North East Line (NEL) trains
and 16 Circle Line (CCL) trains to enhance rail capacity in the
coming years.
The contracts for the procurement of the new NEL and
CCL trains have been awarded to Alstom Transport S.A. / Alstom
Transport (S) Pte Ltd Consortium. The total value of the contracts
is S$368.9 million.
It was previously announced that the NEL would
receive 12 new trains. That is now increased to 18 new trains and
these will be delivered progressively from 2015. The LTA said the
trains will cater to projected demand and increase the NEL's peak
capacity by about 70 per cent.
As for the CCL, the 16 new trains are expected to increase the peak
capacity of the line by about 40 per cent when the new trains are
added progressively from 2015. This will help meet ridership growth
and enhance service levels of the CCL.
Separately, SMRT has awarded the contract to replace the signalling
system on the North-South East-West Line (NSEWL) to Thales
Solutions Asia Pte Ltd. The contract is valued at S$195
million.
SMRT said the project, which will be completed in phases from 2016,
will make it possible for trains to run at an improved frequency of
100 seconds, down from 120 seconds currently. This would mean
reduced waiting times for commuters.
The replacement work covers more than 100 kilometres of tracks on
the NSEW Lines.
The new signalling system to be used will be a
"Communications-Based Train Control" system. A train's precise
location and speed are tracked and safety gaps between trains are
not based on signal blocks but between trains. Such a system can
reduce the time gap between trains entering and exiting stations by
20 seconds, to 100 seconds, during peak periods.
The existing signalling system on the NSEW Lines is a "fixed-block"
system that divides the tracks into blocks and can detect where a
train is when it moves into a new section. For safety reasons,
trains must travel at least one signalling block apart from each
other. With this existing system, a time gap of at least 120
seconds is required between a train that is leaving a station and
the next one that is entering.
The LTA has also awarded the contract for the signalling of the
Tuas West Extension valued at S$40.3 million.
-CNA/ac
