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An extra 93 train trips a week will be added during the morning and evening peak periods.
The result: less crowded carriages and a cut in waiting time by 10 to 15 per cent from the current peak-hour waiting times of between 21/2 minutes and 41/2 minutes.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim, who announced these changes yesterday in the second of his three-part policy speech on improvements to the land transport system, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is working with train operators SMRT Corp and SBS Transit on this.
Mr Lim, who toured the Kim Chuan underground train depot yesterday, said: 'Train ridership is increasing steadily and commuters have said that they are feeling the squeeze, especially on the North-South and East-West lines.'
He told the story of Mr Norman Chong, a Singaporean who lived in Tokyo for 10 years and for whom being crushed during his morning ride was so normal, he called it his 'regular morning massage'.
Saying the train commute here is not as bad, Mr Lim added that the Government is not about to let conditions here deteriorate, so 'commuters need not worry about getting morning massages any time soon'.
The trains plying the North-South and East-West lines can now carry between 1,700 and 1,800 passengers. Even at the very peak of rush hour lasting 15 to 30 minutes, the trains are still below capacity, with between 1,300 and 1,400 people.
Marketing and communications executive Cindy Tan, who spends 25minutes getting from Yio Chu Kang to City Hall in the mornings, was glad to hear about the extra train trips.
She said: 'You never have the luxury of space on the train. There is always just enough room for you to step into the train. I hope, with this, passengers will be better spread out.'
The situation promises to get even better four years down the road: More trains will be bought to bump up the carrying capacity of the North-South and East-West lines during peak hours.
The Government will work with SMRT to balance increasing peak-hour frequencies against what the infrastructure on these two lines can handle.
With the new trains, carrying capacity will rise by 15 per cent and peak-hour waiting times shrink from between 21/2 and 41/2 minutes to two minutes.
And the good news for people living in the north-east is that a portion of the Circle Line will open in mid-2009 - a year earlier than planned.
Residents in Marymount, Lorong Chuan and Bartley will be the first to get on those trains, which will link them to Bishan station on the North-South Line and Serangoon station on the North-East Line.
Mr S.S. Nadarajan, who chairs the Braddell Estate Neighbourhood Committee, said the Circle Line will be a boon to those living in the more than 4,000 homes there.
Besides bringing forward the opening of the Circle Line, the Government will open up more stations.
Thomson and West Coast stations - slated to be built but not fully fitted out - will now open with other Circle Line stations because their neighbourhoods are now sufficiently developed, said Mr Lim.
And in the middle term, when the third stage of the Downtown Line is operational two years early in 2016, residents in MacPherson, Bedok Reservoir and Tampines will have a direct link to the city.
Asked how all this construction in the next 12 years will affect residents in these areas, Permanent Secretary for Transport Brigadier-General (NS) Choi Shing Kwok said provisions are in place for adjustments to be made to traffic flow if necessary.
'There is always a trade-off. If you want less disruption, then it takes longer, versus a little more pain and bitter medicine now but your sickness is over soon,' he said.
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