Speech is here .
I will highlight the ones related to rail here.
In a nutshell,
- Thomson Line by 2018
- Eastern Region Line by 2020
- NSL extended for one more station at future Cruise Centre
- EWL extends 14km (from Joo Koon) to Tuas
- 83 more trips per week during peak hours on EWL and NSL
- 10 more trips per week during peak hours on NEL
- New trains for EWL and NSL by 2012
- CCL Stage 3 opens by mid-2009
- CCL West Coast and Thomson stations opens with its stage
- DTL Stage 3 completes by 2016
- More contestability on rail network with shorter operating
licenses of 10-15 years
- New guidelines based on entire rail network instead of just the
line itself to review viability of a rail line to allow new lines
to open faster
New Rail
Lines
Thomson Line and Eastern
Region Line
8 From the heart of Marina Bay, a new MRT line, the Thomson
Line, will travel northwards, through the Central Business District
and up through Ang Mo Kio all the way to Woodlands connecting
estates such as Sin Ming, Kebun Baru, Thomson and Kim Seng which do
not now have a direct MRT link. From Marina Bay, this line would
connect with another new MRT line, the Eastern Region Line, which
will serve the residential estates of Tanjong Rhu, Marine Parade,
Siglap, Bedok South and Upper East Coast, and link them to Changi
in the east. The Thomson Line or TSL and the Eastern Region Line or
ERL together will add 48km to our rail network. The Government has
given the go-ahead for the TSL to be built by 2018, and the ERL by
2020.
9 The TSL and ERL will shorten journey times and significantly
enhance the connectivity of the rail network. Commuters staying in
Sin Ming can save 20 minutes out of their current 45-minute journey
to the city, whereas a trip from Marine Parade to Marina Bay on the
ERL would take about 20 minutes, almost as fast as travelling by
car.
North-South and East-West
Lines Extension
10 We will also add extensions to the North-South and East-West
Lines, which should be completed around 2015.
11 The North-South Line now ends at the Marina Bay station in the
south. We will extend the line 1-km southwards to serve
upcoming developments in the southern Marina Bay area, such as the
new cruise terminal in Marina South.
12 The East-West Line will be extended by another 14km into
Tuas. Today, a commuter who lives in Clementi and takes
the MRT to work in Tuas has to alight at Boon Lay station and then
take a 35-minute bus ride to get to his workplace. With the new
Tuas Extension that brings the East-West line right into the heart
of Tuas, more of the journey will be on the high speed MRT,
reducing his journey time by 20 minutes.
Doubling of rail network
by 2020
13 These new rail lines will cost us some $20 billion to
build, over and above the $20 billion that government has already
committed for the on-going Boon Lay Extension (BLE), the Circle
Line (CCL) and the Downtown Line (DTL). The government has
decided that all these rail projects are a necessary investment to
ensure that our transport infrastructure meets the needs of a
growing population and an expanding economy.
14 Together with the rail lines now under construction, the
new rail lines will double our network from todays 138km to 278km
in 2020. We expect our rail network to carry 3 times as
many journeys, rising from todays 1.4 million a day to 4.6 million
in 2020.
15 Many more people will be served by the MRT, and they will be
able to use it to get to many more places. The density of our rail
network will increase by 60%, from 31 to 51 km per million
population by 2020, comparable to cities like New York and London,
and surpassing Hong Kong and Tokyo.
A More
Comfortable Ride
16 Let me turn to the existing rail lines. Train ridership
is increasing steadily and commuters have said that they are
feeling the squeeze, especially on the North-South and East-West
lines. Now, we are far from the crowded conditions of
Tokyo trains, which Mr Norman Chong, a Singaporean who has lived in
Tokyo for 10 years, describes as being so packed that bodies are
crushed against one another. He calls it his regular morning
massage. Other MRT users have likened the average peak period
loading on our trains to an off-peak crowd in Shanghai.
17 However, we are not about to let conditions deteriorate and
commuters need not worry about getting morning massages any time
soon. LTA closely monitors the passenger loading on our trains. To
ensure a more comfortable ride for commuters, LTA has
worked with the train operators to run 93 additional train trips
per week during the morning and evening periods from February 2008
on the North-South East-West and the North-East lines. For
commuters, this will mean less crowded trains and a reduction in
waiting time by about 10-15% during peak hours.
18 Beyond that, we will also expand the carrying capacity
of the North-South and East-West Lines. We will be working with
SMRT to purchase more trains and address infrastructure constraints
so that peak hour train frequencies can be increased. When
completed in about 4 years time, carrying capacity will be
increased by a further 15%, and commuters can look forward to
shorter peak waiting times of 2 minutes, compared to the
current 2.5 to 4.5 minutes at stretches that experience heavy
loading, and an even more comfortable ride.
