New trains for North-South, East-West lines arrive in Singapore

SINGAPORE - A pair of new MRT trains have arrived in Singapore - the first of 106 that will replace those currently running on the North-South and East-West lines (NSEWL).

The ship carrying the two six-car Movia metro trains supplied by Bombardier Transportation, which was acquired by French train-maker Alstom in 2021, came into Jurong Port on Monday (Feb 21).

Designed in Germany and manufactured and assembled in Changchun, China, the trains will now undergo a series of rigorous tests and commissioning works before entering service from end-2022, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a Facebook post.

Decked in green and red stripes, the new trains will come with commuter-friendly features, such as refreshed LCD screens displaying train travel information, as well as an integrated suite of condition monitoring features to help with pre-emptive maintenance, LTA added.

When Bombardier Transportation unveiled the new trains here in October 2020, before its acquisition by Alstom, the rail company said the trains would have more open spaces for wheelchairs and strollers.

It also said that the new trains will reduce maintenance costs and increase energy efficiency, "meeting the highest environmental standards".

Then Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said the 106 new trains would enter passenger service from 2022 to 2026, phasing out the first three generations of NSEWL trains, including the first generation Kawasaki trains that have been operating here since the two MRT lines opened in 1987.

LTA purchased 66 of the 106 new trains in 2018 to replace the first-generation Kawasakis in a $1.2 billion deal, which included an option for long-term service support.

It then bought another 40 trains in 2020 for $337.8 million to replace the second-generation Siemens and third-generation Kawasaki-Nippon Sharyo trains.

LTA said at the time that the purchases would help it and rail operator SMRT, which runs the NSEWL, to reap significant economies of scale.

It gave the example of NSEWL rail engineers needing to focus on being experts in only one train type, instead of three currently.

With the arrival of the new trains, the NSEWL's older trains will be progressively withdrawn from passenger service and decommissioned.

In a written parliamentary reply to a question filed by Workers' Party MP Dennis Tan last Tuesday, Transport Minister S. Iswaran said the LTA is currently in active discussion with several organisations that have expressed interest in using some of the older trains for education, training and heritage purposes.

He asked interested parties to contact the LTA for more details.