Let the works begin: Construction of 30-km Thomson Line launched

It will be used by 400,000 commuters daily.

The LTA announced on Friday that construction has officially begun for the Thomson Line. The new rail line will connect the northern part of Singapore to the Central Business District (CBD) and Marina Bay area. 

According to the LTA, the 30-km line will have 22 stations and be fully underground. It is set to open in 2021 and is expected to carry 400,000 passengers daily.

“With connections to the North-South East-West Line (NSEWL), North East Line (NEL), Circle Line (CCL) and Downtown Line (DTL), the TSL will link communities in Woodlands, Sin Ming, Thomson and Kim Seng to the CBD and the rest of the island. When the line fully opens, it is projected to see a daily ridership of around 400,000 commuters,” the LTA announced.

Here’s more:

The TSL will bring significant time savings to commuters travelling along the north-south corridor.

For example, a resident from Springleaf travelling to Great World City will cut his or her journey time by half, as the direct train ride from Springleaf station to Great World station will take only 30 minutes, compared to an hour’s journey today by bus and MRT. 

Woodlands South residents travelling to Orchard will be able to do so within a 35-minute train ride on the TSL, compared to a 50-minute journey by bus and MRT today. 

With the interchanges, commuters will also have more alternate routes to different destinations across the rail network. 

For instance, Sin Ming residents working in Outram Park can now take TSL instead of having to travel by bus before transferring to NSEWL. With TSL, his or her journey will be reduced by at least 15 minutes from 45 minutes currently.

For the first time in Singapore’s rail history, Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) engineers will be using a new construction technology known as ground freezing at Marina Bay station to prevent water seepage during tunnelling works. 

At this site, a series of pipes will be inserted into the ground, before brine is introduced into the pipes, converting the surrounding ground water into strong, water-tight ice walls. 

In addition, tunnel construction process at Marina Bay will be even more complicated as the site involves a three-tunnel intersection of the TSL, North-South Line (NSL) and CCL.