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

More Newton updates

Ventilation fans have been delivered to Newton station recently. Here are some photos of the lowering of the fans to the platform level inside the station.

DTL2 Tunnel Progress

November update, C921 S-608 has relaunched for the second drive to Bugis as mentioned by Jon in the previous post. C920 TBM1 broke through at Stevens yesterday after 22 months of tunnelling. TBM4 should follow up and reach Stevens next month.

TBM1 Breakthrough at Stevens

Photo credit - Khor Eng Leong

Testing & Cabling stage 1

Lots of work has been going on Downtown Line stage 1 (DTL1) since the civil structures of the stations have been completed. These works include laying of cables and subsequent test running of the trains on the line.

MacPherson

MacPherson station is an interchange station with the Circle Line and has been awarded as C931 to Hyundai E&C. Take a look at this short clip using the tilt-shift videography to give a miniature-like effect to the construction site.





http://youtu.be/05ioFz2VbLI

S-608 re-launch

TBM S-608 has been re-launched from Rochor station shaft for its Expo-bound drive to the Queen Street Shaft. This marks the final drive for Downtown Line 2.

Photo credit - Sai Han Thi Ha

TKK - BTN tunnelling progress

Some updates on the way home, S-604 (BP bound) is now below Crown Centre, at ~290 rings, approximately halfway done with its drive to Botanic Gardens from TKK. S-605 (EP bound) has resumed churning and the monitoring team (with their quarters under the coloured umbrella) has moved over to to the canal side. This machine will later on dive under the canal to avoid the underpass foundations. 605 is now at about 40 rings. I expect the temporary road diversion to be reinstated by the end of this year.

S-604 at Crown Centre

S-605 resumed tunnelling, launch shaft at TKK in the left background

S-604 in blue and S-605 in green

Installation of escalators at Newton

Photo Credit - Khor Eng Leong (Project Director of C920)

Transfers on Downtown Line 1

With Downtown Line 1's opening looming closer and closer, have you ever wondered how transfers will be made at the 4 new interchanges? Bayfront station is the easiest with cross-platform transfers working similar to that at City Hall and Raffles Place stations. All you need to do is simply walk across the platform if you are traveling in the same direction. If you are changing direction, you would need to change floors as well.

At other stations, a slightly more complex transfer is needed. Starting at Bugis, the station has both paid and unpaid links between the East West Line (EWL) and Downtown Line (DTL). The paid transfer link opens up to the side of the concourse in the EWL station, roughly at the landing between the escalators. From here, a new set of escalators brings you down to the transfer subway one level down. Near the existing fare line, another opening will allow lift access to the subway. Once rounding the corner, a travellator will bring you to the transfer mezzanine level within the DTL station, one floor above the platform.

The unpaid link opens up between Entrances B and C on the EWL and will feature a row of shops within the DTL station. A void overlooks the paid transfer subway below, bringing you directly to the DTL concourse level.

At Promenade, things are a bit trickier. This interchange between the Circle Line (CCL) and DTL will require several level changes. As there are no new entrances built for the DTL, all entry to the station's paid areas will be through the existing fare lines in the CCL station. Passengers from the concourse level or CCL upper platform will need to take an escalator down to the CCL lower platform where the DTL paid concourse is.

From the CCL lower platform, the connection to the DTL paid concourse is available, allowing passengers to descend further to the DTL upper and lower platforms. This means that if you are transferring or entering the DTL from the upper levels of the station, you would need to make a 2-escalator transfer - slightly more tedious than other stations on this phase of the line.

Lastly, Chinatown station provides an easy 1-escalator transfer. Currently, it seems that only Platform A serving the Bukit Panjang bound tunnel will be open during the initial period. Platform B will be used for trains heading towards Expo once stage 3 opens for operations. From the North East Line (NEL) platform, one simply needs to walk to the northern end to find escalators and lifts that will lead up to the DTL station platform.

Once Platform B is open as well, the transfer is a simple walk over from the NEL concourse level as the platform opens directly to the NEL fare line.

S-608 first breakthrough at Queen St

A slightly more detailed coverage of the breakthrough of the BP bound tunnel between RCR and BGS over the past 2 months. The machine has now been brought back to Rochor to be re assembled before it commences the final launch for DTL2.

Photo Credit - Sai Han Thi Ha

Jalan Besar update

Jalan Besar station is being built by the top-down method of construction where the excavation goes down a few metres before a slab is poured. The concrete is allowed to cure before excavation through access shafts continues to the next level where the next slab is poured again. This process is repeated till the excavation reaches the intended depth. The top-down method is usually used when excavation takes place in relatively build up locations - such an example would be Holland Village station along the Circle Line.

26 August 2013

26 August 2013

Additionally, the TBMs for this contract which includes the tunnel drives towards Bencoolen station, have been delivered and assembled. They are due to be launched this month for the 700m drives along Bencoolen Street, undercrossing the tunnels between Rochor and Bugis en route.

TBM cutterhead being lowered down
Photo credit - John Holland

21 September 2013

21 September 2013

21 September 2013

Photo credit - Peerapong Peetor Chotklang

The launch shaft for the station has an acoustic building that is being built over to minimise noise pollution for the nearby housing blocks. This is similar to the structure in place for King Albert Park station. As the lowering of the TBMs have been completed, works to close up the structure are progressing to allow tunneling work to commence.

6 November 2013

6 November 2013

6 November 2013