SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract worth about $526 million for the design and construction of Bright Hill MRT interchange station and the tunnels under the Cross Island Line Phase 1 (CRL1).
Penta Ocean Construction, which has a strong track record of undertaking infrastructure, building and tunnelling projects in Singapore, was awarded the contract, said LTA on Wednesday (March 30).
Work is expected to start in the second quarter of this year, with passenger service commencing in 2030.
The new station will be connected to a new Transit Priority Corridor (TPC) along Sin Ming Avenue. Construction of the 2km stretch will start in the second half of this year and be fully completed in 2029, LTA said.
As announced in Parliament earlier this month, the TPC along Sin Ming Avenue is part of the additional 60km of such corridors that will be added by 2030.
Located between Upper Thomson Road and Marymount Road, the TPC will include widened roads to feature a dedicated bus lane, new cycling paths and wider footpaths. It will also connect to the North-South Corridor in Marymount Road.
With the TPC, LTA said, residents in the Sin Ming area will have more access options to Bright Hill MRT station and recreational spaces such as Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Educational institutions like Ai Tong School and Eunoia Junior College will also be within convenient reach by public transport and active mobility nodes.
When completed, the Bright Hill interchange will enable commuters to transfer between the Cross Island Line and the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL).
In terms of time saving, a journey from Bright Hill station to Pasir Ris East will take 30 minutes, down from the current 1½ hours.
CRL1 is 29km long and comprises 12 stations from Aviation Park to Bright Hill. The latest award is the last civil contract relating to stations on this phase of the CRL. The total amount of civil contracts handed out for CRL 1 is around $6.6 billion.
Other projects that Penta Ocean previously worked on include Bright Hill station on the TEL. It is also constructing the station, tunnels and the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Building for the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link as well as the tunnel between Suffolk Walk and Novena Rise for the North-South Corridor.
The CRL is Singapore's eighth MRT line. At more than 50km, it will be Singapore's longest underground line. It will serve existing and upcoming developments in the eastern, western and north-eastern corridors, connecting major hubs such as Jurong Lake District, Punggol Digital District and the Changi region.
