History of OpenBVE Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) And Light
Rapid Transit (LRT) system
The 2000s was an era of great technical changes for the world of
train simulation. The leaders of the train fans world across the
world were convinced of the need to create a train simulation that
not just focused on arcade gaming side which often at the expensive
of realism, but also support it with a realistic and accurate
technical details to support the world of train simulation.
To this end, Takashi Kojima (Mackoy) had commissioned a project
called BVE (Boso View Express TrainSim) in 2000 to create the
initial possibility of realistic train simulation game. Amongst
others, the initial product pointed such to a possibility for such
realism rail transit system. As a result, it has developed with
Version 2 and 4 of BVE in year 2001 and 2005 respectively with the
third version were scrapped off due to development issues.
Despite so, it does not feature support for train exteriors,
animated 3D cab environments and animated scenery that led to a
lack of cab ambiance and caused a minus point for realism. It is
also not released under public domain which upsets some hobbyists.
Thus, an independent team from Michelle in 2009 had stepped forward
to reinforce the initial BVE for a rail simulation that features
those aforementioned features that was not present in BVE. It was
named as OpenBVE.
2009 - The Work Began
In 2009, as the Singapore government in the world of train
simulation had still not implemented a MRT system, thus the MRT
system in the world of train simulation was in turn become a BTO
(Built To Order) scheme. Hence, BVESG community was formed which is
led by Willis Chong and Wenjie who had also formed WCVP (Willis
Chong Video Production) and Wenjie ROX (Wenjie Republic of
Xclusives) that gives the go-ahead due to the maturity of train
simulation along with the demand of it is ever increasing and work
on the construction of the openBVE MRT began. The countless time
and effort was put in and targeted to be completed with fully
realistic train simulation without a deadline.
The 6 km-long route would boast 3 stations, of which 2 would be
above ground and 1 underground. The Changi Airport Branch line was
implemented first as businessmen need to be ferried across the busy
Changi Airport and the Changi Business Park, which is located at
Expo.
On 21 July 2009, when its first section from Changi Airport to
Expo was opened, thousands flocked to experience travelling on the
MRT on a PC. The CEO for the WCVP Consortium, Mr Willis Chong¸
officiated the launching of the BVE forum on 19 April 2009. The
remainder of the system was opened in stages and the final section
of Changi Airport Branch Line was completed in 21 April 2010.
North South Line
In 7 July 2009, Jerry Transit Coporation announced its decision to
extend the OpenBVE MRT system to Bukit Batok & Choa Chu Kang.
Work on this 4.6km extension was completed on 7 September 2009.
With the new MRT extension up and running, commuters can now choose
to take off on a fast train.
Woodlands Extension, Bishan Extension, Jurong East
Extension
In September 2009, Jerry Transit Consortium was formed along with
Network Rail Transit System Limited (NRTS), whose CEO is Joey Foo
and Matthew Rapid Transit Coporation (MRTC) which announced their
decision to extend the OpenBVE MRT system beyond Choa Chu Kang, and
goes through Woodlands, Sembawang New Town, Yishun New Town, Ang Mo
Kio and Bishan Town. Provision plans to extend the North South Line
to Jurong East was also conducted in March 2010.
Work on this 26.2km extension was completed on 17 March 2010
with the exception of Bishan. With the new MRT extension up and
running, commuters can now choose to take off on a fast train to
travel between the Western and Northern part of Singapore.
East West Line & Boon Lay Extension
In 15 September 2009, The Soon Transit had announced the decision
to further extend the OpenBVE MRT system eastwards, starting from
Pasir Ris to Tanah Merah Station. This 6km extension will further
enhance Eastern Region’s limited MRT connection of Changi Airport –
Tanah Merah. However, the construction progress was not very smooth
as compared to other lines and as of now, neither of the stations
was opened to public yet.
In 15 February 2010, Veyron Transit Coporation (VTC) by Jek had
announced its decision to further extend the OpenBVE MRT system to
Clementi & Redhill, with the help of NRTS and Matthew Rapid
Transit Coporation, both of them who have prior experience on
Woodlands Extension. The first sector of the work on this 8km
extension that covers Clementi to Commonwealth was completed on 21
February 2010. The sector from Commonwealth was completed on 4
April 2010. With the new MRT extension up and running, commuters
can now choose to take off on a fast train towards the South
Western parts of Singapore. The other sectors of Redhill are
expected to be opened by Late April or May respectively.
Futhermore, on March 6 2010, the Union of Super Samuel Rail
(USSR) had announced the decision to extend the OpenBVE MRT system
from Bedok to Aljunied and more. With the reference of previous
experience in NSL and VC's EWL, the initial 6.5km sector was
completed March 14 2010. Also, the USSR had a joint venture with
Jian Rong Group (JR Group) for future railway extensions such that
provisions can be made to further extend the system Eastwards to
Pasir Ris which allows people from Changi and Pasir Ris can have a
direct transit connection to the busy CBD, which the construction
has been halted down due to the technical challenging constraints.
Ever since the USSR and the JR Group expanded the route to Pasir
Ris, The Soon Transit had officially came into the picture by
combing the strength in 2010 May 3 with the main construction focus
on the station's interiors, tracks and viaduct. It had further
strength itself with the involvement of the Habbohotel Group in
2010 May 5. On 24 May 2010, WTC and Chris Vehicle Consortium (CVC)
had further pooled in efforts to the EWL team. With a sudden
increase of number of co-developers, the EWL team is confident to
be the fastest developing team, and the next step is to complete
the entire line within 6 months from now.
North Shore Line Extension
19 March 2010, 10AM
Jerry Transit Coporation has started planning for a new route in
the world of openBVE. The naming of the line and stations are under
planning, but working name of the line has been announced, namely
"North Shore Line Extension".
With this new line, people coming back from Malaysia can hop
onto the station near Woodlands Checkpoint, bringing them to
shopping malls or more MRT lines to go to the city for
sightseeing.
The fare will be low and consistent for all stations, which is
at SGD$1.20 The fare price may change as time goes.
16/5/2010: Currently, the line is going through
re-tender as the planner, JTC, has shelved the plan. If the
re-tender is unsuccessful, there is a high chance the plan would be
fully shelved, until someone is able to revive the plan. This is
because JTC has already planned a new line and construction is
already underway, despite the name of the line has yet to be
finalized.
Circle Line
Soon after the completion of
various EWL / NSL sectors, the CCL was announced by the openBVE
government on 19 Apr 2010 to be the next to be constructed in order
to bring convenience to the residents in Mountbatten, MacPherson,
Serangoon and Bishan which provides a direct link to the CBD areas
such as Stadium, Nicoll Highway, Marina Centre (Esplanade) and
Dhoby Ghaut. It can also bring convience to other commuters who can
have a much nearer MRT station than existing EWL / NSL stations,
such as Bras Basah, Esplanade and Promenade. The first sector will
only cover the CBD areas starting from Dhoby Ghaut and ends at
Stadium is expected to be completed by End of June 2010 with the
extension towards Tai Seng, Marymount in subsequent phases, which
can then really benefit the above mentioned areas. By 2011, it will
be extended further from Marymount towards Harbourfront to look
like a partially circle (Not a completed full closed circle) and
another further extension by 2012 will start from Marina Bay to
Promenade in order to start the inital phase for closing the
remaining "holes" in order to make Circle line a real circle. The
Circle Line's tender was won in a joint bid form by SBS Engineering
Coporation and Wee Transit Corporation.
Due to some technical problems. The work for Circle Line was
postponed till December 2010. However, Wee Transport Coporation
announced that it will open the line till Paya Lebar instead of
Stadium. Together with SBS Engineering, the work with the C830
rolling stock and Circle Line will be released together.
North East Line
With the population density in the North East has since been
rapidly increasing, shortly after a few days of the announcements
on the CCL, the NEL project is officially announced. This line's
tender was won by Kenneth Foundation of Consortium (KFC) by VTC,
Kenneth Transit of Millennium (KTM) and USSR. This line is expected
to benefit commuters from Punggol, Sengkang, Hougang, Serangoon,
Boon Keng to travel between their estates to the CBD such as Little
India, Dhoby Ghaut, Outram Park and HarbourFront. The expected
completion date is not released to the public yet.
Bukit Panjang LRT, Sengkang & Punggol LRT, Downtown
Line and beyond
It is widely expected that after the completion of the full
initial MRT network that is 89 km-long route consisted of 56
stations, where 40 would be above ground and 16 under ground, NEL
and CCL, the next target would likely be Bukit Pangjang LRT
(BPLRT), Downtown Line (DTL) that plys between Bukit Panjang to
Bukit Timah, Little India via Newton, the new upcoming Downtown
areas, Chinatown, Jalan Besar, Ubi - MacPherson, the highest
population density in Bedok Resevoir, Tampines and Expo) as well as
Sengkang & Punggol LRT (SKPGLRT). All these rail lines will
bring benefits to people in the North East (SKPGLRT), Central (DTL
in Newton, Little India, Downtown, Chinatown, Jalan Besar),
East (DTL in Ubi - MacPherson, Bedok Resevoir, Tampines and Expo)
and North West (Bukit Panjang Town by BPLRT and DTL, DTL in Bukit
Timah - Botanic Gardens) region of the Singapore OpenBVE world.
However, due to the number of population density in Bukit Panjang
and Bukit Timah is relatively low while the re-devlopment of
Downtown areas is not fully completed yet, priority to build such
lines is low at the moment.
Changi Airport Branch Line: 25 to 26 September
2010
Reconstruction works of viaducts going on between Expo and Tanah
Merah stations, causing disruptions on train services. Free shuttle
bus services will be provided to serve commuters along the affected
stretch. Construction works will begin 30 minutes after the last
train returns to BVE Changi Depot and is scheduled to complete 5
hours before the first train depart BVE Changi Depot on the CGL
tracks on 27 September 2010.
This is the first major train service disruption in the openBVE
Singapore Railway Transit System History.
Rolling stock
The openBVE MRT government purchased 66 sets of the C151 trains.
These are the oldest trains on the system, which have been running
since the MRT system's inception in 17 September 2009, and are
still in operation today. Originally, these trains were meant to
operate of the North South Line and the Changi Airport Branch of
the East West Line. However, with the expansion of the MRT network
to the East West Line, more trains are required to ply on the
lines. The C151 train contract was won by WCVP who will be
responsible for building such trains.
The openBVE MRT government then confirmed another order of 19
sets of the second generation trains, the C651. The first C651
arrived on the 19th of March 2010, reducing the commuters waiting
time for a train. For this, WCVP did not participate in the bidding
instead which had then the train contract had won by JVC (JCQH
Vehicle Coporation) who will then be responsible for building C651
trains. However, it seemed that JVC had the intention to transfer
such tendership and thus a re-tender of C651 is a ongoing process.
Currently, some of the companies interested in enhancing the
existing C651s included NRTS, JTC and USSR with different levels of
progress, where NRTS is known for enhancing the existing motors and
installing STARIS while USSR had a train that had enhanced on the
power and braking notchs (Cancelled project) and possibly create
creating some ads (Integrating existing ads by Jcqh) , which MRTC
(H20 ad) is doing the same thing as well.
Soon after the C651, where the C751B had the first trainset
arrived on 29 April 2010. This train's contract was won by SBS
Engineering Coporation, with SBS7322B as the CEO. With the addition
of this train type, all of the EWL / NSL rolling stocks are
completed and the next on the order list is C151A, which is cater
for future Tuas Extension / JEMP.
However, openBVE government does not stop at EWL (CGL) / NSL. It
has also expanding on NEL and CCL, which means new rolling stocks
are needed as well.
For the NEL, the C751A was chosen as the rolling stock and the
tender contract was won by Kenneth Foundation of Consortium (KFC)
by VTC, Kenneth Transit of Millennium (KTM) and USSR, with no
expected timeframe for such delivery at the moment.
On the other hand, the rolling stock for CCL is C830, which is a
joint venture by SBS Engineering Coporation and Wee Transit
Coporation (WTC). The construction of the C830s will only be
officially started at June 2010.
Anyway, to give proper credit,
Jerry Transit Coporation --> Jerry Transit Consortium =
Jericho Chua (Jerryonhere)
Network Rail Transit System Limited = Joey Foo (Joeyfjj)
Matthew Rapid Transit Coporation = Matthew (Yellowflip999)
The Soon Transit = The Soon
Veyron Transit Coporation (VTC) = Veyron 16.4, Jek
Union of Super Samuel Rail = Samuel Lee (Samuel Lee)
Jian Rong Group = Yong Jian Rong
SBS Engineering Coporation = SBS7322B
JCQH Vehicle Coporation = Jcqh
Wee Transit Coporation (WTC) = BryanWee
Kenneth Transit of Millennium (KTM) = Kenneth1228
HabboHotel Group = Habbo lifehurts-forever (Now SBS9231S)
Chris Vehicle Consortium (CVC) = Chris (TIB589B)