Sense of pride and achievement for engineers involved in completing Circle Line

SINGAPORE – Senior civil project engineer Sheron Lee, 30, was tasked with helping to build the Prince Edward Road station on the Circle Line when she joined the Land Transport Authority seven years ago as a fresh graduate.

It was a tough project that required coordination of construction works in the narrow, busy areas around Shenton Way and Keppel Road, she said.

Now with the station complete, there is a sense of pride, especially because her husband can get to NUS for part-time classes from his Shenton Way office by getting on the train at Prince Edward Road station, she added.

Before this, he had to take a bus to HarbourFront before getting on the Circle Line train to Kent Ridge.

Ms Lee said: “What we built is not just the physical structure, but something that is part of everybody’s journey.”

The three new stations – Keppel, Cantonment, and Prince Edward Road – will open for service on July 12 after about nine years of construction.

They are the final piece of the jigsaw that will complete the Circle Line and mark the completion of a project more than 30 years in the making. The Circle Line began operations in 2009.

More than 10,000 commuters can expect shorter train rides, and travel times are likely to be cut by about 10 minutes.

For senior project engineer Jeryl Ong, 32, whose work involves monitoring safety testing, train movements and equipment, the project is a culmination of countless hours of testing and troubleshooting.

Ong, who joined the LTA in 2019, said: “We have to approach all issues with a calm and steady mind… to solve it in the most effective manner.”

He added that he often worked the night shift from midnight to 6am, and with a four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son, “adapting to the timing was not the easiest thing”.

Now, Ong said he is looking forward to taking his children on rides to see the new stations with his wife, who is a teacher. When his children see the stations, they can see what their father was working on, he added.

The role of 47-year-old senior project engineer for rail services, Jega Devarajan, is similarly time-critical as he manages the electrical systems of all three stations, responding to spontaneous alarms outside shift hours. This has, occasionally, interrupted his personal time with his wife and three children, a 13-year old son, and an 11-year-old twin boy and girl.  

Former LTA deputy chief executive for infrastructure Chua Chong Kheng, 67, said the Circle Line is the product of generations of officers who contributed to the project over the years.

Chua, who is also the former Circle Line project director, said: “Each phase of the project had its own challenges. As a team, we could overcome them.”