SOME relief for train commuters is in sight.
Next Friday, a new platform will open at the busy Jurong East
MRT interchange.
The platform will allow five new trains to be deployed on the
North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) that use the station.
Passenger load on the two lines during morning peak hours will
increase by 8 per cent to 21 per cent, depending on which direction
a train is heading, and crowding at the station will be
reduced.
By December, an additional 17 new trains will join the five,
bringing the total number of trains on the NSEWL to 128.
Once those 17 trains are added, the number of passengers that
can be carried on the two lines will increase by 15 per cent during
peak periods.
Waiting time for commuters will also be cut. During peak hours,
they need wait two to three minutes for a train compared to the
current 2.5 to four minutes.
The new platform and trains are part of the $800 million Jurong
East Modification Project announced in 2008 to ease crowding and
increase capacity of the NSEWL.
About 260,000 commuters take the trains serving the two lines
during the morning peak period.
The extra platform will also ease the bottleneck at the
interchange.
Currently, a train approaching the above-ground Jurong East
station has to wait for the preceeding train to leave before it can
pull in, limiting the capacity to run more frequent train
trips.
With the completion of the new platform, as well as a 2.5km
track, trains will have an additional track to turn around, and
more trains can be put through the station at shorter
intervals.
For a start, the new Jurong platform will be used only during
the weekday morning peak period - between 7am and 9am - when the
station is most crowded. By December, when the 17 new trains are
running, it will be open during the evening peak period from 5.30pm
to 7.30pm too.
At a media briefing yesterday, Mr Chew Hock Yong, chief
executive of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), said the project
was a key part of LTA's plan to significantly enhance Singapore's
rail network over the next 10 years.
"With the new platform and new trains, we will be able to reduce
waiting time for commuters and hopefully, more commuters will have
a pleasant journey and will enjoy their trip," he said.
Overcrowding at MRT trains was one of the hot topics of the
recent general election.
Transport experts said the infrastructure changes at Jurong will
significantly ease the bottleneck there and the additional trips
will also make a difference for commuters.
Associate Professor Lee Der Horng of the National University of
Singapore's department of civil engineering said: "More people will
be able to get on the trains during peak periods, so it's
definitely good news."
Associate Professor Michael Li, a transport economist at the
Nanyang Business School, said that as more lines are added to the
network and ridership increases, similar modifications may also be
needed at other interchanges down the road.
LTA yesterday also announced other improvements that have been
made to the Jurong East station.
These include an additional entrance, a new passenger drop-off
point for commuters working at the International Business Park, as
well as a pedestrian overhead bridge linking a new private bus
pick-up point to the station.
About 150 new bicycle racks have also been added at the station
for commuters who cycle there.
Commuters hope the trains will become less crowded in the
future.
Teacher Nilanjan Ray, 40, who takes the train every morning from
Yishun to Queenstown where he works, hopes he will be able to cut
his travelling time.
He spends up to 20 minutes waiting for his connecting train at
Jurong East during peak hours. They are usually too packed to
board, he said.
Another commuter, supermarket manager Lee Boon Guan, 43, usually
waits for a second or third train before boarding at Jurong East
station, where he makes a connection to his workplace at
Clementi.
"It will definitely be better with more train services. I will
just be happy if I can board."
(Taken from The Straits Times, Tuesday, May 17 2011, Page A1
& A4)