Downtown Line 3 to open on Oct 21

FireIce SG

The 21km-long Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) will begin operations on Oct 21, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Wednesday (May 31).

With its opening, commuters can travel from the north-western and eastern areas of the island to the Central Business District and Marina Bay. For instance, commuters will be able to travel from Bukit Panjang station to Expo in approximately 1 hour 10 minutes.

DTL3 comprises 16 stations: Fort Canning, Bencoolen, Jalan Besar, Bendeemer, Geylang Bahru, Mattar, MacPherson, Ubi, Kaki Bukit, Bedok North, Bedok Reservoir, Tampines West, Tampines, Tampines East, Upper Changi and Expo stations.

Of these, three are interchange stations that will link up to the CCL and East-West Line (EWL). The MacPherson interchange station links the DTL3 to the CCL, while Tampines and Expo stations link to the EWL.

The first 10 stations from Fort Canning to Bedok North have obtained their Temporary Occupation Permit status, while final fitting-out works are currently in progress at the last six stations.

DTL3 is the longest stretch of the line to be completed, and with it, DTL will be the longest underground and driverless MRT line in Singapore at 42km long, surpassing the 35.7km-long Circle Line (CCL).

The Upper Changi station is the longest station on the DTL3 at 205m. It has four entrances and comprises three levels — concourse, intermediate and platform.

DTL1, with six stations from Chinatown to Bugis, opened on Dec 22, 2013, and DTL2, with 12 stations from Bukit Panjang to Rochor, opened on Dec 27, 2015.

A DTL3 extension from Expo to Sungei Bedok will open in 2024. This extension will have three stations: Expo, Xilin and Sungei Bedok.

todayonline

FireIce SG

zerotesk SG

Hi,

Been reading this forum on and off for years, very informative.

Just curious about what you are allowed to take photos of in Singapore.

I visit Singapore a few times a year and use trains and buses extensively.

Recently while walking around one evening, I started taking photos with my phone of one of the nearly completed new stations on this line. There was a mesh fence around the station entrance and I took some photos of the entrance. While there was an open gap in the fence I didn't go through it.

While I was there a man in cargo shorts and a white polo shirt ran over from the other side of the road and demanded to know if I was with the contractor, or if I was a government employee. I told him no, so he asked why I was taking photos. I told him I was a tourist and interested in transport, true. He told me there were many tourists and people who took photos and he was employed to stop them.

He asked me to delete my photos in front of him which I did because I had no interest in getting in trouble over a few photos. He said I was allowed to take a photo of the station name but nothing under constuction. Seemed odd to me but did he really have the right to stop me? Is there some law in Singapore about taking such photos? I can't see how it would be a security issue because you can go to Google Maps and see the entrance to any MRT station you like. Interested to hear from any locals about this.

iveco SG

Hi,

Been reading this forum on and off for years, very informative.

Just curious about what you are allowed to take photos of in Singapore.

I visit Singapore a few times a year and use trains and buses extensively.

If he is a security officer he should be in uniform and also have an ID badge. Were you taking photos of the station entrance from across the street?

Anyway, I forsee a possible round of bus service rationalisation with DTL3 turning operational. Possible changes lie ahead for Routes 65, 67, 171 and 700.

zerotesk SG

Hi Iveco,

No uniform like I would expect an SMRT employee to be wearing. Maybe he worked for the construction contractor as a security guard? His white polo shirt had a red and blue logo on it, something like the letters MRA maybe. I should have asked for ID but was caught off guard by his totally unexpected approach. The way he spoke sounded official, like it wasn't the first time he had done this. For a second I thought about challenging him to call the police if I really was doing anything wrong but then I decided that might not be such a good idea.

I was taking photos from the public footpath, right outside the mesh fencing but not tresspassing as far as I am aware. There was no signage I saw about photography being banned and I don't understand why it would be. After all, the station is on a main road. He said he was employed to stop people taking photos. Seems like a strange job to have outside a train station that will open in a few months time.