New major water line to run below Rail Corridor

The rail corridor at the former KTM Bukit Timah railway station. National water agency PUB plans to lay a new water main under the southern half of the Rail Corridor to meet future water demand in the city area. -- PHOTO: ST FILE 
The rail corridor at the former KTM Bukit Timah railway station. National water agency PUB plans to lay a new water main under the southern half of the Rail Corridor to meet future water demand in the city area. -- PHOTO: ST FILE 

SINGAPORE - National water agency PUB plans to lay a new water main under the southern half of the Rail Corridor to meet future water demand in the city area.

About half of the 22km pipeline from Murnane Reservoir in Bukit Timah to Maxwell Road, will be beneath the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway line, which has lain vacant after train service from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands ceased in 2011.

The project is expected to cost roughly $300 million, depending on tender results.

Construction work on the pipeline will last from 2016 to 2019 and some sections of the corridor will be closed to the public temporarily.

Before that, PUB will do soil investigation works, environmental impact studies and detailed engineering studies.

The rail corridor will remain accessible to public while these are going on.

The pipeline will also skirt under or around historic structures like the former Bukit Timah Railway Station, a steel truss bridge over Bukit Timah Road, and a historic brick drain along the Rail Corridor.

Typically, no permanent structures are permitted over such major water pipelines.

Water demand in the city is currently about 30 million gallons per day (mgd), and is expected to double to 60 mgd by 2060, the PUB said.

Map

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.