SINGAPORE - South Korea's GS Engineering and Construction has clinched a $639.5 million contract to build Singapore's first MRT testing facility.

The Land Transport Authority said on Friday (April 17) that the Integrated Train Testing Centre (ITTC) will occupy 50ha of the former Raffles Country Club site in Tuas.

The first of its kind in South-east Asia, the ITTC is a dedicated facility that will be equipped to "perform robust integrated systems testing for new and existing MRT lines" round the clock.

The will minimise disruption to passenger services on operational rail lines, and free up more time for engineers to carry out maintenance and renewal works.

The centre will house an operations control centre, testing equipment and about 11km of tracks capable of accommodating high-speed testing for new trains. Like an actual MRT system, it will have a train workshop, stabling tracks and maintenance tracks.

To be fully operational by 2024, it is designed after similar testing centres in countries like Germany, South Korea and Japan.

Over time, the ITTC will also be used to evaluate new railway infrastructure, develop proofs-of-concept, as well as conduct research and development into new technologies.

"The ITTC will also speed up diagnoses and rectification of faults, as more troubleshooting can now be done locally," LTA said, adding that rail workers stand to benefit "with first-hand understanding of the intricacies of new rail systems before they are deployed".

The facility will begin operation in phases, with the first phase starting by end-2022 to receive new trains and systems for Circle Line 6.

GS Engineering and Construction is currently building a four-in-one depot in the East Coast which will accommodate trains from three MRT lines as well as a bus depot.

Previously, it built the Downtown Line's Gali Batu depot, Fort Canning station and Tampines East station, as well as the Thomson-East Coast Line's Woodlands station.