Teck Lee LRT station in Punggol opens nearly 20 years after it was built

SINGAPORE – Armed with a video camera, 18-year-old Mark Raphael Divina arrived at

Teck Lee LRT station

in Punggol at around 8.30am on Aug 15, the day of the station’s opening. 

“I want to document this moment so that I can share it on social media,” said the ITE College Central aerospace technology student, a train enthusiast who had been eagerly awaiting the occasion. 

“If I ever study at the SIT Punggol campus, I may be using this station,” he added, referring to the Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) new campus.

Teck Lee LRT station’s shutters rolled up just after 5am, almost 20 years after the station was completed, as the authorities held off its opening until the surrounding area was developed.

It is the last stop to start operations on the west loop of the Punggol LRT line, which opened progressively from 2005.

It takes about four minutes to walk via covered linkways to the business park in Punggol Digital District.

The new SIT campus is located in the district, and the school will move there in phases, from the current half of 2024 to early 2025.

The station’s open-air platform is flanked by views of surrounding foliage, with landmarks such as Safra Punggol and the One Punggol lifestyle hub in sight.

At 8.30am, when The Straits Times was there, the station was quiet, with a few people milling around. Besides train enthusiasts like Mr Divina, there were commuters who work nearby and residents visiting out of curiosity.

A commuter who wanted to be known as Ms Lee took the LRT to Teck Lee as she tried out a new route to her workplace. 

After alighting and learning that her destination was a 1km walk from the station, she decided to catch a train back to Punggol MRT station and take a bus to work, to avoid walking under the sun. 

She said she would more likely use the station to travel to work if there were shuttle services or sheltered walkways from the station to her workplace.

Punggol resident Yuen Kwok Weng, 32, visited Teck Lee station with his five-year-old son. “He wanted to come and see (the station), so I brought him,” said the security guard. 

Mr Albert Chng, 72, who is retired and recently moved to Punggol, believes he will use the station in the future as the area “is starting to open up” and will see new developments in the coming years. 

“It is a very nice place to walk around,” he said. “I intend to come here, walk around and jog back.” 

Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Janil Puthucheary, who is in charge of the Punggol Coast ward, said the station would improve transport connectivity in Punggol. 

It would grant SIT students and people who go to Punggol Digital District access to a “whole spine of facilities” in the district, from commercial facilities to food and beverage and retail shops, added Dr Janil, who is also Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Health.

While Sam Kee LRT station is nearby, Teck Lee LRT station provides an additional option for people to visit the area in different ways, he noted.

“We want multiple ways for people to come; it is not just to have all the transport come to one choke point. The design is such that we want to have different ways for people to come – whether you cycle, walk or take public transport.” 

Teck Lee LRT station will primarily serve surrounding developments such as Punggol Digital District, which is expected to generate 28,000 high-tech jobs, and SIT’s Punggol campus, which can accommodate 12,000 students.

Projections for the station’s usage will be “in tandem with the developments around the area”, said Mr Jeffrey Sim, group chief executive of SBS Transit, which operates the Sengkang-Punggol LRT.