SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has bought 44 six-car trains for the Cross Island Line (CRL) that will be delivered from 2027, ahead of phase one of the rail line opening in 2030.
On Wednesday, LTA said it awarded a $589 million contract to CRRC Sifang – a consortium of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co and Singapore CRRC Sifang Railway Vehicles Service. The contract includes the option to buy up to 11 additional trains and an option for the provision of long-term service support.
The new fleet of fully automated CRL trains will be designed and manufactured in Qingdao, China, said LTA.
Each train carriage will have five doors on each side to facilitate quicker boarding and alighting, similar to the Thomson-East Coast Line trains. Train carriages on the other MRT lines have four doors on each side.
The gangways – flexible connectors between train cars – will be wider at 1.6m, compared with 1.4m on other existing MRT trains. This will improve accessibility within the train, LTA said.
It added that the trains will run on a 1,500 volt DC overhead conductor rail system installed on the ceiling of the tunnels, which “will increase energy efficiency” compared with a typical 750 volt DC third rail system.
Most MRT lines in Singapore have a third rail system, where trains draw electricity from a power rail located along the tracks.
Besides the CRL, only the North-East Line (NEL) extension to Punggol Coast will be powered by an overhead conductor rail system, where trains draw electricity from wires supported by a rigid bar. The rest of the NEL uses a different overhead catenary system.
CRL trains will be equipped with condition monitoring and diagnostic systems to detect potential equipment faults early, LTA said.
It added that some trains will have an automated track inspection system that monitors the condition of the running rail and overhead conductor rail in real time.
CRRC Sifang had previously supplied trains for the North-South, East-West and Thomson-East Coast lines, in collaboration with Japanese firm Kawasaki Railcar Manufacturing. LTA noted that CRRC Sifang has also supplied trains to Beijing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Chicago and Sao Paulo.
The CRL – Singapore’s eighth MRT line – will be built in three phases and span the length of Singapore from Changi to Tuas, and link major hubs such as the future Jurong Lake District and Punggol Digital District.
Almost half of the CRL stations will function as interchanges with other lines, making it more convenient for commuters to travel across the island, LTA said.
For a start, the CRL will use six-car trains, with a possible expansion to eight-car trains in future. It is expected to have a daily ridership of more than 600,000 in the initial years, and more than one million in the longer term.
The first phase slated to open in 2030 is 29km long, and comprises 12 stations from Aviation Park in Changi to Bright Hill in Sin Ming.
