Downtown MRT Line

For the station, see Downtown MRT Station.

DTL  Downtown MRT Line Laluan MRT Pusat Bandar 滨海市区地铁线 டவுன்டவுன் எம்ஆர்டி வழி
The Downtown Line is coloured blue on system maps.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
Status	Operational (Stages 1 & 2) Under construction (Stage 3) Under planning (DTL3e)
Termini	Bukit Panjang Chinatown Expo (2017) Sungei Bedok (2024)
Stations	18 (Operational) 16 (U/C) 2 (Under Planning)
Services	1
Daily ridership	78,000 (Q3 2015)
Operation
Opened	22 December 2013 (Stage 1) 27 December 2015 (Stage 2) 2017 (Stage 3) 2024 (DTL3e)
Owner	Land Transport Authority
Operator(s)	SBS Transit DTL (ComfortDelGro Corporation)
Character	Underground
Depot(s)	Gali Batu Kim Chuan Changi (Future)
Rolling stock	C951
Technical
Line length	20.9 km (13.0 mi) (operational) 21 km (13 mi) (U/C) 2.2 km (1.4 mi) (Under Planning)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC Third rail
Operating speed	limit of 80 km/h
Route map Legend Gali Batu Depot  DT1  BP6  Bukit Panjang  ■ Choa Chu Kang – Via Senja/Petir   DT2  Cashew  DT3  Hillview  DT5  Beauty World Pan Island Expressway  DT6  King Albert Park Bt Timah Canal  DT7  Sixth Avenue  DT8  Tan Kah Kee Farrer Road  ■ HarbourFront – Bishan   DT9  CC19  Botanic Gardens  ■ Sungei Bedok – Woodlands North   DT10  TE11  Stevens  DT11  NS21  Newton  ■ Marina South Pier – Jurong East  Central Expressway  ■ HarbourFront – Punggol   DT12  NE7  Little India  DT13  Rochor Loop  ■ via Bencoolen – via Jalan Besar   ■ Joo Koon – Pasir Ris   DT14  EW12  Bugis   ■ HarbourFront   DT15  CC4  Promenade   ■ Dhoby Ghaut   DT16  CE1  Bayfront   ■ Marina Bay   ■ Jurong East – Marina Bay   DT17  Downtown  ■ Pasir Ris – Joo Koon   DT18  Telok Ayer  DT19  Chinatown  ■ Punggol – HarbourFront  Singapore River Stage 3: Open 2017  DT20  Fort Canning  ■ HabourFront – Punggol   ■ Marina South Pier – Jurong East   ■ Bishan – Dhoby Ghaut   DT21  Bencoolen Loop  ■ via Bugis – via Rochor   DT22  Jalan Besar  DT23  Bendemeer Kallang River  DT24  Geylang Bahru Pan Island Expressway  DT25  Mattar  ■ Dhoby Ghaut/Marina Bay – Bishan   DT26  CC10  MacPherson  DT27  Ubi Kim Chuan Depot  DT28  Kaki Bukit  DT29  Bedok North  DT30  Bedok Reservoir  DT31  Tampines West Canal  DT32  EW2  Tampines  ■ Pasir Ris – Joo Koon   DT33  Tampines East Pan Island Expressway  DT34  Upper Changi  DT35  CG1  Expo  ■ Tanah Merah – Changi Airport  Stage 4: Open 2025  DT36  Xilin  DT37  TE31  Sungei Bedok  ■ Woodlands North

The Downtown Line (DTL) is the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The 4.3-kilometre (2.7 mi), 6 station Stage 1 of the line opened on 22 December 2013, with Stage 2 on 27 December 2015 and Stage 3 due to open in 2017. The line will connect the North-Western and Central-Eastern regions to the new downtown of Singapore.

The Downtown Line interchanges with the North East Line at Chinatown and Little India, with the East West Line at Bugis, with the Circle Line at Bayfront, Promenade and Botanic Gardens, with the North South Line at Newton, and with the Bukit Panjang LRT at Bukit Panjang. Future extensions of the Downtown Line will interchange with the East West Line at Tampines and Expo, with the Circle Line at MacPherson, and with the Thomson-East Coast Line at Stevens and Sungei Bedok.

This line is the third in Singapore to be entirely underground (apart from the Gali Batu Depot). When fully completed, the line will be about 44 km (27 mi) long with 37 stations and will serve more than half a million commuters daily. It will also be the longest driverless rapid transit line in Singapore, surpassing the record set by the Circle Line. Travelling from one end to the other will take around 70 minutes. The line is coloured blue in the rail map.

History

LTA's Downtown Line (Stage 1) project office next to Bugis MRT station.

On 14 June 2005, the Land Transport Authority announced the Downtown Extension of the Circle Line to serve the Downtown at Marina Bay area, where an integrated resort (Marina Bay Sands) and Singapore's second botanical garden (Gardens by the Bay) was to be located. The 3.4-kilometre fully underground line was estimated to cost S$1.4 billion. Construction of the extension began in January 2008. During the construction of the North East Line at Chinatown station, platform provisions were built to facilitate an interchange station.

Stage 1 of the Downtown Line began service on 22 December 2013, with its official inauguration made on the day before by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Stage 2 of the Downtown Line was first conceptualized and announced as the Bukit Timah Line. It was supposedly a 20-kilometre line that would connect the new downtown with the Bukit Panjang, Upper Bukit Timah and Bukit Timah corridor, alleviating the heavy traffic travelling along the sector, but a full route was released. Provisions were provided at Nicoll Highway station which would have seen the line terminating there and interchanging with the Circle Line. However, the Nicoll Highway collapse and subsequent feasibility works deemed the old station unusable. The former Downtown Extension of the Circle Line was subsequently amalgamated into the Downtown Line and was revamped as part of Stage 1, a 4.3-kilometre (2.7 mi), 6 station segment connecting Chinatown to Bugis stations. Stage 2 is now 16.6-kilometre (10.3 mi) long and consists of twelve stations, including three interchange stations.

Construction for Stage 2 began on 3 July 2009 with a groundbreaking ceremony at Beauty World Station and became operational on 27 December 2015.

Stage 3 of the Downtown Line consists of the original Eastern Region Line that was announced in 2001. The route goes from Chinatown to Expo. The station locations and finalized route were unveiled on 20 August 2010. Stage 3 of the Downtown line will be 21-kilometre (13 mi) long and serve 16 stations. The completion is set for the first half of 2017.

A new depot, the Gali Batu Depot, is under construction at part of the former Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery off Woodlands Road to serve the line.

In August 2011, SBS Transit won the bid and was appointed to be the operator of the Downtown Line, under a new framework which would see the authority remaining the owner of the line. Final costs of building the line may reach an estimated S$20.7 billion, up more than 70% from an initial estimation of S$12 billion. In January 2013, plans for a southern extension which will run from Expo through the East Coast area, interchanging with the Eastern Region Line were announced for completion by 2025.

DTL3e was announced on 15 August 2014, in conjunction with the announcement of the Thomson-East Coast MRT Line. Two stations, Xilin MRT Station and Sungei Bedok MRT Station will be added to the Downtown Line, with Sungei Bedok as an interchange station with the Thomson-East Coast Line. It will add an additional 2.2 km to the line with the extension. Due in 2024, Stage 3e will join the current East West and future Thomson-East Coast lines that runs through Marine Parade.

In October 2014, it was announced that the Stage 2's opening delayed to the first quarter of 2016. On 28 June 2015, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced that the delay caused by Alpine Bau's insolvency in mid-2013 was "completely resolved" by the authorities and Stage 2 opening date goes back to December 2015.

Stations

Main article: List of Downtown MRT Line station names

Station Number	Station Name	Interchange/Notes
DT1  BP6	Bukit Panjang	Change for the Bukit Panjang LRT
DT2	Cashew
DT3	Hillview
DT4	Future Station	Located at Hume Avenue; Shell Station; Not In Operation
DT5	Beauty World
DT6	King Albert Park
DT7	Sixth Avenue
DT8	Tan Kah Kee
DT9  CC19	Botanic Gardens	Change for the Circle Line
DT10  TE11	Stevens	Change for the Thomson-East Coast Line (2021)
DT11  NS21	Newton	Change for the North South Line
DT12  NE7	Little India	Change for the North East Line
DT13	Rochor
DT14  EW12	Bugis	Change for the East West Line
DT15  CC4	Promenade	Change for the Circle Line
DT16  CE1	Bayfront	Change for the Circle Line
DT17	Downtown
DT18	Telok Ayer
DT19  NE4	Chinatown	Change for the North East Line
Stage 3 (Under construction)
DT20	Fort Canning
DT21	Bencoolen
DT22	Jalan Besar
DT23	Bendemeer
DT24	Geylang Bahru
DT25	Mattar
DT26  CC10	MacPherson	Change for the Circle Line
DT27	Ubi
DT28	Kaki Bukit
DT29	Bedok North
DT30	Bedok Reservoir
DT31	Tampines West
DT32  EW2	Tampines	Change for the East West Line
DT33	Tampines East
DT34	Upper Changi
DT35  CG1	Expo	Change for the East West Line (Changi Airport Branch)
DTL3e (Under planning)
DT36	Xilin
DT37  TE31	Sungei Bedok	Change for the Thomson-East Coast Line (2024)

Rolling stock

A view of the Chinatown station on the Downtown Line platform.

The rolling stock consists of Bombardier MOVIA C951 cars, running in three-car formation. They are stabled at Gali Batu Depot after it opened with Stage 2 of Downtown Line on 27th December 2015. For the period between the operation of Downtown Line Stage 1 and Downtown Line Stage 2, trains were stabled at a maintenance facility that was built at Marina Bay as part of the Circle Line project. Kim Chuan Depot will house the Operations Control Centre for the Downtown Line until Gali Batu Depot and Changi Depot is ready to be used.

On 12 October 2012, the first of 11 trains for the Downtown Line Stage 1 arrived at Jurong Port. It was transported to Kim Chuan Depot to undergo testing by LTA before it was handed over to SBS Transit. As of 28 February 2013, Bombardier had delivered five of the 11 trains for Downtown Line Stage 1. LTA together with the operator, SBS Transit, conducted the necessary tests to ensure safety standards, functional performance and systems compatibility requirements were met before revenue service began on 22 December 2013.

Testing on the Downtown Line Stage 2 has begun during operational hours since 25 October 2015 and rolling stock that was delivered to Gali Batu Depot have commenced service on Stage 1 starting on 21 October 2015. The Kim Chuan Depot will continue to operate on a minor capacity.

Train control

The Downtown Line is equipped with Siemens (previously Invensys before Siemens acquisition) Trainguard SiriusCommunications-based train control (CBTC) moving block signalling system with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 4 (UTO). The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, Controlguide Rail 9000 Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains and Trackquard Westrace MK2 Computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points to be set.

A fall-back signalling system, relying on conventional track-circuit occupancy detection, is included to ensure fully automatic operation and train protection independent of the radio system.

Automatic platform screen doors by Westinghouse provide safety for passengers, offering protection from arriving and departing trains.

External links

• Downtown Line