Hume Station

Piling works continue for the entrance and vent shaft at Hume. The additional works will likely continue on to the 3rd quarter of 2016.

Future entrance for the Hume station

Sheet Piling at Hume

Sheet piling works have been carried out on both sides of the road over the past 2 months. The sheet piles form an earth retaining structure for the subsequent excavation of the additional 2 structures that would extend from the existing station box. An integrated superstructures of the entrances and ventilation buildings would likely surface by the end of this year. There is a possibility that this station would open sooner than anticipated, perhaps even by the next decade, judging by the late decision of the additional works.

Hume site, May 2015

Hume - Second Realignment

Another realignment has taken place at the Hume worksite. With the existing traffic layout in place, there is room to commence construction of both ventilation shafts, with the northbound shaft leading in progress. The 2 ventilation shafts will also serve as access points from the tunnels to surface for maintenance and emergency purposes. Photos in this update were taken on February 25.

Site of the south ventilation shaft where the recent realignment has taken place

North vent shaft alongside Hume Avenue

Hume Diverts

As Hume slowly phases into reinstatement, a recent diversion of Upper Bukit Timah Road was implemented over the station box.

Edit: A new signage has been put up by C915 stating that reinstatement will only take place in Q1 2016. It is believed that the additional year of construction works could mean that a ventilation building would be built along the northbound road once they remove the old road deck, or some sort of future-proofing by constructing the entrance's substructure right beneath the street level. The answer would be clearer within the next few months.

Section of slope along Hume Avenue to be rebuilt before the road finally reinstates

Hume

Hume is at its final phase of being backfilled. Road reinstatement could possibly take place early next year.

S602 Breakthroughs, BP Bound Completes

Completion of all bored tunnels within DTL2

At last, the final TBM (S602) has docked into Sixth Avenue Station, concluding 36 months of tunnelling works for the entire Downtown Line 2 when S548 was first launched at Beauty World on 8 June 2011. McConnell Dowell, which coordinated this final TBM docking at Sixth Avenue, is the same contractor which facilitated the inaugural TBM launching at Beauty World 3 years ago. CP1&2 has been excavated and supported, while the last cross passage 3 is currently being mined.

We'd like to acknowledge Herrenknecht, Kawasaki and Hitachi Zosen, the manufacturers for the 19 TBMs along Stage 2. Herrenknecht AG has a renowned history in producing the quality S-number TBMs of various sizes and uses since 1975. The local demand for their machines have steadily grown over the years since the successful implementation of S134 and S135 between Farrer Park and Boon Keng stations along the North East Line. A further 9 machines were procured to construct the southern half of the bored tunnels for the Circle Line. 22 machines had been ordered throughout DTL2 and DTL3, and more will come with the increasing demand of upcoming metro lines.

Kawasaki from Japan delivered 5 machines that were ordered under GS and SK for Contract 913 and 915. Most of their machines used in Singapore are of the slurry type, with a few currently involved in the SP cable tunnel project. Hitachi Zosen supplied STEC 4 Earth Pressure Balance Machines under C920.

These sophisticated machinery would not have been able to operate without the hundreds of men working beneath the surface under immense pressure and poor ventilation. A very big thank you to the tunnelling team from all nationality.

Below is a flashback of the earlier few TBM launches along the stage.

Inaugural launch at Beauty World

Day 4, Hume

There haven't been any signs of any structures appearing at the surface of Hume station. At this point, works have progressed that the roof slab has been cast. Contract 915 also involves the construction of all 4 tunnels leading out of the future station - currently built as a box structure to be topped off at a later date. Final breakthrough at Hillview and Beauty World were achieved by TBM2 and 1&3 in April and June respectively last year. Trackworks are on going between Hume and Beauty World from the Gali Batu staging area.

DTL2 Civil Team 1 Update

As in the preceding post, we explained about the division of Downtown Line Stage 2 (DTL2) into two civil construction teams and featured the progress of Civil Team 2. In this update, we continue with the progress updates for Civil Team 1.

Cashew

Works are beginning on the permanent structure of the exit with the concrete formwork being placed ahead of concrete pouring. The escalators have been installed some time back and are covered with tarp and a metal roofing. The lift shaft is taking shape visibly as it currently stands alone to the side of the future exit.

Stage 2 update January 2014

A month has passed since we entered into 2014 and this provides a good chance to look back at the progress over the stage 2 stations thus far. On the whole, the stations are progressing swiftly towards completion in 2016. It was reported in December that "Several stations have achieved basic structural completion for electrical and mechanical installation works to begin and this will be progressively achieved at all 12 stations by mid-2014". It is notable that most station structures are taking shape decently, with several showing signs of reaching the final levels where the entrances and exits pop up.

DT4 sneak peek

Map by LTA

Have you ever wondered where the code DT4 went to? Well, we explain more after the jump.