Train services on the entire Downtown Line (DTL) will
start later on Sundays from May 14 for three-and-a-half months as
the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and train operator SBS Transit
(SBST) commence testing in preparation for the year-end opening of
Downtown Line 3.
To facilitate the testing of the entire DTL as an
integrated line, the first trains departing from Bukit Panjang
(towards Expo) and Chinatown (towards Bukit Panjang) will leave at
7.31am, instead of 5.50am and 6.28am respectively every Sunday,
from May 14 to Aug 27. This will exclude June 25, the Hari
Raya Puasa Sunday.
Shuttle buses will be provided between 5.50am and
7.30am. They will run parallel to the DTL1 and DTL2, stopping at
each of the 18 stations of these two lines.
Explaining the delayed train start times at a media
briefing on Wednesday (April 26), the LTA and SBST said that an
additional two hours are needed for the test runs as a round-trip
loop between Bukit Panjang and Expo will take about two and a half
hours.
More time is also needed for preparatory works before
the tests start, and to ready the systems for start of passenger
service.
Mr Ngien Hoon Ping, chief executive officer of LTA,
said: "We are making good progress on the DTL3 and are on track to
open 16 new stations by the end of the year.
"Before this, we need to carry out comprehensive
systems testing and run trains along the entire DTL from Bukit
Panjang to Expo. It is therefore necessary that we extend our
limited engineering hours once a week to allow our engineers to
test the system in an integrated manner."
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