The train cars rested at the port till night fell the next day, when they made their way – secured to the trailers with heavy-duty straps and escorted by an entourage of 12 auxiliary police vehicles – to the Singapore Rail Test Centre (SRTC) in Tuas Link.
This was done after 7pm to minimise traffic disruptions in Jurong Port Road, Pioneer Road and Tuas West Road, and to facilitate safety coordination among the logistics team and traffic marshals.
The convoy transporting the train cars arrived at the test centre slightly before 8pm.
Workers toiled till midnight to unpack the train, peeling back the many layers of tarpaulin and plastic sheets to reveal the carriages’ red-and-blue livery in the national colours of Singapore and Malaysia.
Engineers performed visual inspections and safety checks on the exterior of the train and its accompanying parts – including its couplers and connecting gangways.
The 76.5m-long train is the first of eight – each with an optimal capacity of 607 passengers, or 1,087 in a squeeze – bound for RTS service.
They will cover the 4km track between Singapore’s Woodlands North station and Johor’s Bukit Chagar station, ferrying up to 10,000 people an hour in each direction at speeds of up to 80kmh.
The first train is now undergoing tests to ensure it works well with other rail systems.
May 5, crunch time: In the afternoon, workers began work on putting the train through its tests.
Inside the workshop, workers conducted safety checks involving the inspection of the undercarriage, electrical cables, air supply lines and safety lock mechanisms.
The train was then powered up with a portable power supply for engineers to start their routine inspection, including activating on-board systems and running tests to check various system functions, such as signalling and communication systems.
The train was coupled to a shunting locomotive and transported onto designated tracks for inspections and movement tests. This was because the train was not powered yet and could not move on its own.
In a three-hour process, the four train cars were coupled to one another to sync up their alignment, movement and braking systems.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the train will graduate from the test centre to the RTS Link tracks between Woodlands North and Bukit Chagar – where on-track trials will run until the third quarter of 2026.
Meanwhile, the other seven trains will be progressively delivered to the Wadi Hana depot in Johor Bahru for testing from August to December 2025, before joining the trials on the RTS Link tracks.
The unveiling of the first train was commemorated at an event at the SRTC on June 30, attended by Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke and Johor Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
“We still have work ahead of us,” said Mr Loke. “But I have every confidence that come the end of December 2026, we will be welcoming passengers onto this train and into a new era of connectivity.”
The Home in Focus visual column marks its 10th anniversary today.