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