Geylang Bahru from October

Contract 932A is for the construction of Geylang Bahru station and was awarded to China State Engineering & Construction (CSEC). The contractor is also handling C929, the build-only contract for Kaki Bukit station. Here are a few photos of the Geylang Bahru station site from back in October (all photos are original production).

26 October 2013

December update

With Downtown Line 1 (DTL1) now fully up and operational, the focus will shift towards completion and commissioning of Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) in 2016 and Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) in 2017. Work has been continuing through the festive season with track laying, civil defense door installation and concrete pouring going on at various sites.

Bukit Panjang

21 December 2013 - A view inside the C912 tunnels near Bukit Panjang station
Photo credit - Willyboy Plantar

Backfilling the crossover

Some night shots taken at the Beauty World crossover last week. This site will house a single crossover from the BP to EP bound tunnel. As shown in the before and after effect, the crossover has been completely covered with the exception of small openings towards the station area. Utility pipes can be seen on the site and reinstatement to the street shall be expected next year.
('Before' photos credited to McConnell Dowell Facebook, dated Nov 2011)

Final milestone for DTL1

PM Lee officiating the launch of DTL1 at Downtown station

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong officiated the opening of Downtown Line 1 this morning. This marks an end to 6 dedicated years of construction right up from preliminary works, road diversions, excavation, structural completion, backfilling, delivery of escalators, fitting of M&E components, trackwork, alterations to existing interchanges and gradually watching the exit and vent buildings take shape on the surface.

While the DTL shines for having the deepest stations and subway tunnels in Singapore, a not widely known fact is that it also boasts to have the shallowest tunnels between 2 underground stations. At its shallowest point, the roof is approximately GL100.50 as seen from the cross section, a mere 1.5m from the street surface at Robinson Road. Just 700mm follows the existing EWL tunnels below. This sector was indeed a significant challenge during the construction phase, coupled with busy streets and heavy traffic in the city centre.

Grout, Grout and more Grouting

So here's the long-yearned update for the 2 TBMs between KAP and SAV. S602 (BP bound) is making slow progress, though the soil beneath isn't terrible enough to initiate ground improvement works. This TBM is directly beneath the electronic speed limit signboard outside the corners of Maplewoods at present. S602 is at 127 rings, advancing only 91 rings since Sep 21.

S603 is the leading machine. Previously mentioned that the centre carriageway above has been cordoned off to facilitate grouting (in purple), a second round of grouting is now taking place right after the machine advanced another 20~25 rings (in red). The bank is particularly soft in this area, and the contractors are doing their best to avoid the ground from loosening, potentially settling the road into the canal.

Chemical grouting machine and truck attached with crash attenuator above the surface of S603

Advanced work notice on electronic display posted up 2km away from the affected region

Hillview interior

Managed to catch a glimpse of the interior of Hillview station. Progress here seems to be quite good as well.

Dated 23 November 2013

Mattar flashback

Contract 932 is for the construction of Mattar station and associated tunnels towards Geylang Bahru station. Last month, contractor Sato Kogyo celebrated the successful completion of the tunnel drives to Geylang Bahru station, some one year and five months after the initial launch ceremony where Minister of State for Transport, Josephine Teo inaugurated tunneling along Downtown Line 3 (DTL3). Tunnel boring machines Xena and Gabrielle supplied by Kawasaki Heavy Industries had to chew through earth for a distance of 1.4km.

Here's a look back at Mattar station from 2011 when works were just beginning.

22 September 2011

Settlement at Duke's Road

S604 is currently at 360 rings and have stirred up significant movement in the ground around the area. Earlier on last week a pipe had burst in the area directly above and SP was called in to do repairs. The situation seemed to have worsened and SK engaged a specialist to pump concrete directly into the earth where the affected area is. The ground improvement works would have concluded by morning, I was told.

Beauty World update

Beauty World station was the first site to break ground along the entire stretch of Downtown Line 2 (DTL2). Currently, works are going on at the cut & cover section north of the station to back-fill the soil on top of the completed tunnel. Tunnels from the C915 section have already connected to this end of the station and the first stage concreting done to pave the way from Alstom to begin track works.

Gali Batu depot update

Gali Batu depot will be the main depot for the entire Downtown Line once completed next year. The depot will then begin receiving trains and commence testing for the new units before testing along Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) commences. Currently, the depot has achieved basic structure completion (BSC) while the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) is still a further 9 months away (eta Sep 2014). Here's a look at the depot's progress after achieving BSC.

Jalan Besar update

After many months, the TBMs at Jalan Besar are ready to churn and eat away the earth, leaving behind a trail of tunnel rings assembled for the Downtown Line 3 (DTL3). The acoustic shelter is finally up and almost done while preparatory works continue under the sound-proofed shed.

A view of the acoustic shed seen in the background along
Jalan Besar

Tampines East update

Tampines East station has made great progress with excavation starting at the station box as well as the cut & cover cripple siding section. Tunnel boring began on 5th December towards Tampines Central station. Once there, the internal parts of the TBM will be stripped out and a new shield used for re-assembly of the TBM before driving the Bukit Panjang track towards Tampines Central. Already, the Expo bound track under C923A has been completed and final breakthrough will take place once the excavation has reached formation level. TBM Argo by C923A contractor Shanghai Tunneling has been stripped out with the shield abandoned in-situ and the machine redeployed for its drive towards Upper Changi from the PIE shaft.

Panoramic view of the Tampines East worksite - the middle is the cut & cover portion, the right is the launch shaft.

Casting Bendemeer under platform

Early this morning, Bendemeer station saw a flurry of activity when cement mixers and concrete pumpers descended upon the station site for a concrete pouring operation. This time, the contractor Penta-Ocean Construction was casting the under-platform level - a sub-platform level that houses electrical conduits and other systems passengers at the station typically do not see. Here are some photos of the operation.

DTL2 December tunnel progress

December tunnel chart for DTL2

C918A

C921

An overview of the progress of the remaining 5 tunnels for stage 2:

C918A
S604 at 356 rings (~55% completed)
S605 at 73 rings (~11% completed)

C921
S608 at 41 rings (~20% completed)

Will try and get updates for the last 2 tunnels under C917A.

Downtown Line 1 - A closer look

As promised, here's a follow up post to yesterday's Downtown Line 1 (DTL1) Open House post with a greater emphasis on the architectural aspects of the stations. Here's a video of a ride along the first stage of the line, opening 22 December.



http://youtu.be/v1k_rOU_nQ0

Let's start at the Bugis terminus then and work our way towards Chinatown.

Downtown Line 1 - A step closer

Downtown Line 1 (DTL1) had its Open House event today to introduce the new line to the public. At its first debut, the line was thrown open to commuters for 8 hours with free rides and festivities going on at the 6 stations that form stage 1 of the eventual 42km long line. Stretching from Bugis interchange on the East-West Line (EWL) to Chinatown on the North-East Line (NEL), the 4.3km section takes 8.5 minutes to travel end-to-end.

Poster for DTL1 Open House

Stage 2 Tunnelling Progress

 S-604 is moving beneath with good speed and is now at 346 rings, past the halfway mark. It will bore beneath the road interchange at Farrer/Adam next and shall reach Botanic Gardens in due course, estimated around Feb 2014.

S-604(BP) below the Crown Centre bus stop (Botanics breakthrough point towards the left end)

S-603 at KAP has encountered terrible soil issues and the specialist have been engaged to do intensive soil improvement works to the area outside the Cascadia. As such the middle carriageway has been closed while they conduct the grouting.

S-603 (EP) encountering weak soil beneath the Cascadia

Sixth Avenue flashback

Sixth Avenue station is located at the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Fourth Avenue. The station sits on the site of a former police force depot which has given way for road diversions to construct the simple two-basement single-entrance station. Here are a few photos chronicling the construction of the station thus far.

12 December 2010 - Road diversion works at the Eng Neo Avenue junction in full swing

Cashew interior

Came across this shot of the interior of Cashew station, so thought I'd share it. Looks pretty good progress for Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) so far if some of the stations are this far along already.

11 November 2013
Photo credit - Rajib Datta

Promenade update

With the Downtown Line stage 1 (DTL1) officially opening in 3 weeks time, some changes have been taking place at Promenade station which will be an interchange with the existing Circle Line. Though minor, the signs have undergone a cosmetic update in line with the new improved info-graphics being introduced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) with the opening of DTL1. Take a look at some of the new signs appearing.

One of the new station signs at the entrance

DTL3 Q4 Tunnelling Progress

TBM4 (諸葛亮) breakthrough at Stevens

At last, STEC's completed its final tunnel drive to Stevens. TBM4 has driven the EP bound tunnel from Newton and arrived 2 weeks after the lower TBM. Likewise all accessories will be extracted and removed via the launch shaft. Works on the FSC shall commence next, after which track laying by Alstom can proceed upwards to BTN. I'm guessing the slip road on the surface will be reinstated by Q2 next year after the launch shaft has been completely backfilled.

TBM4's interface with Stevens station 

Photo credit - Khor Eng Leong

Little India progress

A bit more progress has been made at Little India station. At this point, it seems that this is the most advanced station under construction along the entire Stage 2.

Escalators installed on 26 November 2013
Photo credit - หนึ่ง ดูสันเทียะ

Canal works on station roof 17 November 2013
Photo credit - หนึ่ง ดูสันเทียะ

Expo update from October

Some photos to share of Expo station from last month.

25 October 2013

Bedok Reservoir's Tierra

Contract 927 involves the construction of two mainline tunnels by TBM, a cripple siding tunnel by shotcrete lining and the Bedok Reservoir station. Italian contractor CMC di Ravenna is using two Robbins TBMs for this contract - TBM1 named Tierra and TBM2 named Kaida. This past week, Tierra broke through at the reception shaft of Bedok Reservoir station marking the end of its drive on the Expo-bound tunnel. Here are some photos of its assembly and subsequent break through.

Little India & Rochor render fly through

In case you weren't aware, the contractor for Little India and Rochor stations, Ssangyong E&C, has a Facebook page set up that has several renders and construction photos on their site. They also presented two renders of the stations where you fly through the station and have an idea of its layout and design.


Little India

Post by Ssangyong C921 - DTL2 Works.

 

Rochor

Post by Ssangyong C921 - DTL2 Works.

Tampines Central update

Tampines town will see 3 new MRT stations with the Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) threading through the estate. One will serve the east district, another the west district and the third the town centre with the existing East-West Line (EWL) station forming an interchange. Although the final name reflected for this station is "Tampines", for the purpose of ease of identification during the tender and construction processes, the station is referred to as Tampines Central (avoiding confusion with Tampines East & Tampines West stations). This also stems from the fact that although an interchange station with the EWL, the DTL station is an entirely separate stand-alone facility with no paid links to the existing station. With the emergence of such interchanges (others being Bukit Panjang and Newton stations), the fare structure will definitely see a revamp prior to the operation of these stations. Here's a look at how Tampines Central station has progressed over time.

2012

Bencoolen flashback

Bencoolen station was the third station awarded to Sato Kogyo along Downtown Line 3 (DTL3), the other two stations being Mattar and Bedok North. This area in which this station is situated has seen the most drastic changes since construction began. Once a tree-lined street, the roadway was since closed and traffic diverted away to facilitate construction of the deepest station on the MRT network yet - at 43m below ground. With about 8 basement levels, Bencoolen station is pushing the barrier for deep-level MRT stations in Singapore. Here's a look back at the area before Bencoolen Street was closed.

22 September 2011

Stevens and Newton

A&A works have commenced at the concourse of Newton station.

Sembawang is also dismantling the west gantry crane at Stevens after about 1.5 years of operation. The roof slab is completed and they're freeing up the site while they can. The east gantry crane will be dismantled in 2 months.

Geylang Bahru flashback

Geylang Bahru station is located under Kallang Bahru near the Pan-Island Expressway and will serve the neighbourhood located along Geylang Bahru. Works commenced in 2011 and since then, road diversions have taken place along with station excavation works, changing the view somewhat. Here are a few pictures from before any soil turning began.

22 September 2011 - Kallang Bahru in its original alignment

Telok Ayer flashback

Telok Ayer station is located along Cross Street and is one of the 6 stations along stage 1 of the Downtown Line opening on December 22, 2013. During construction, a temporary vehicular viaduct with access points along Central Boulevard, Shenton Way and Robinson Road was constructed to provide a quicker alternative route for vehicles to bypass traffic junctions where lanes had to be closed for construction work. The final day of operation for the viaduct was 11 November 2010 and it was subsequently dismantled after several years of service. Take a look back at how Telok Ayer station has progressed over the years.

08 May 2008 - One of the earliest photos of Downtown Line construction,
this shows an overview of the station area. Where the red and yellow silos stand
is the main entrance for Telok Ayer station.

Hillview flashback

Hillview is the second station being built under Contract 913 and is a sister station to Cashew. The design of the two stations is expected to be similar, just like how Boon Keng & Potong Pasir stations share a similar design on the North-East Line (NEL). Here's a flashback to the progress of Hillview station over the years.

03 September 2010 - The beginning of works with diaphragm walling

Cashew flashback

Cashew station under Contract 913 is being built by a joint venture between Korean company GS Engineering & Construction and local builder Tiong Seng. Located in a quiet neighbourhood along Upper Bukit Timah, the Cashew Road area is a serene spot for any home buyer. Here's a recollection of photos showing Cashew station's development over the years.

03 September 2010 - Diaphragm wall works just beginning after a minor road diversion is completed

Bugis connection

In the previous post on transfers along Stage 1, we explain diagramatically how the transfers work. Now that the walls have come down at Bugis station, we can at least show you pictorial where the connections to the existing station are being made.

19 November 2013 - This is at the EWL escalator landing where you enter to the escalators down to the paid link subway