Beauty World Station

Upper Bukit Timah Road has been fully reinstated at the Beauty World site in August. The overall reinstatement progress is almost complete, and all covered linkways, bus and drop off bays are done. Works under ER487 is nearing completion for the new right-turning intersection for town-bound buses into Beauty World. It remains to be eseen whether the bus routes would be realigned upon the opening of the DTL2.

Reinstatement in front of Beauty World Centre

Beauty World Clads

Fittings at the Beauty World station are almost completed. The hoisting and installation of glass panels commenced at the start of last month on Entrances A and B, and have completed since then. Entrance C's roof has been covered with an aluminium sheet and should commence architectural fittings soon. The network of covered linkways surrounding entrance B have been structurally completed.

Entrance B

Beauty World Entrances

The steel frame segments for the roof of Entrances A and B have been installed here at Beauty World. RC works for Entrance C along Jalan Jurong Kechil are almost completed and similarly, we expect the entrance's roof to be installed by the next quarter. Reinstatement works continue above the former C&C site with the new POB beam launched up and frames for the covered linkways around the area beginning to emerge. The cooling tower has been successfully covered up with grates and is being painted. Photos in this update were taken on February 25.

Upgrading of Upper Bukit Timah Road & Jalan Anak Bukit
2 road projects - ER480 & ER487 are currently in the process of tendering. The scope of works include converting the section of Upper Bukit Timah Road between Jalan Jurong Kechil and Clementi Road into a bi-directional traffic. This would offer motorists travelling from JJK to Dunearn/Clementi a more direct route of travel in the future and alleviate existing traffic congestion above the Anak Bukit Underpass.

In addition, modifications will be made along UBTR near Hindhede Road to allow for town-bound public buses to turn right to Beauty World. Works on the road project will commence upon the opening of the DTL2.

Aerial view of Beauty World

Southbound Entrance

Beauty World Superstructs

Formwork for the superstructures made tremendous progress over the past quarter. Entrance A and B shares a symmetrical, jagged design opposite each other. To the north of Entrance A, a small ventilation building is being constructed beside BWC. The cooling tower is taking shape on the south side as well.

The POB at BTSC is currently being reinstated and should be ready by the next quarter. Landscaping works have also begun around the former crossover tunnel site.

The Alstom staging area at the Beauty World site has also been cleared, tying in with the completion of trackworks towards Botanic Gardens. This milestone marks the completion of a continuous rail track through DTL2, as well as a closing to Contract 910.

View of the 4 superstructures along Upper Bukit Timah Road

Formwork for the northbound entrance

Entrance C pit along Jalan Jurong Kechil

Cooling Tower

Cleared staging area for trackworks

Reinstatement of BTSC POB

Beauty World

Vent shaft superstructure at Beauty World is being formed. We should start to see rebar at the entrances' surface by year end.

Beauty World

Realignment of Upper Bukit Timah Road

The 9th Traffic Diversion (TD9) for C916 has been successfully implemented at the Beauty World site yesterday, realigning Upper Bukit Timah Road over the backfilled-crossover tunnels. This traffic diversion saw a 3-day closure of Chun Tin road over the National Day weekend as the project team rushed the necessary road resurfacing works. Works may now proceed for the entrance that is to be located in front of Beauty World Plaza.

Southbound road now operates as a 2 lane carriageway

Miscellaneous works to reinstate the walkways around the shophouses

Looking towards the station side where the entrances' structure is beginning to surface

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 5, Beauty World

Today we look at the Beauty World site under Contract 916. Likewise, the station is being backfilled while an isolated shaft opening is left for the TSA works by Alstom. A clamshell excavator was brought in 2-3 months ago to excavate the entrance at Jalan Jurong Kechil following the completion of the subway construction. This is the second last structure for DTL2 that has to be excavated.

Overview of TSA and main station

Crossover Tunnel

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.

Beauty World road realignment

As mentioned previously, Upper Bukit Timah Road was due to be realigned on January 26th at the Beauty World station site. This has since been accomplished and works are currently underway for the Alstom temporary staging area (TSA) to proceed with trackworks. An access shaft now stands where the launch shaft for the lowering of TBMs and materials for tunnel construction towards King Albert Park station was located prior to the diversion of Upper Bukit Timah Road in 2013.

02 February 2014

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.

JJK to reopen, Alstom to proceed

Tomorrow would see the the re-opening of Jalan Jurong Kechil, 13 months after having been closed while main contractor McConnell Dowell facilitated subway works beneath the original junction. This subway will link to the future entrance outside BTFC.

With the road realigned back, there will not be obstructions between the TSA holding site and the launch shaft. Movement of trackwork materials would be at ease. We expect trackworks to begin at Beauty World from Q2 onwards.

Inside Beauty World in December

Beauty World station is also one of the sites that will be a Temporary Staging Area (TSA) for track works. As such, the station needs to be structurally completed before track works can commence, similar to how Little India has been substantially completed prior to the commencement of track works. Here's a look inside Beauty World station at the end of December.

29 December 2013 - A view of the track bed within the
station looking nothwards to the crossover

29 December 2013 - The pipe you see is to deliver concrete to the track bed for first stage concreting
that will form the bed on which tracks will be laid.

Photo credit - Ye Htwe

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)

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.

October summary

Okay, so trying something new that hopefully will help.
This monthly update will display the tunnel sheet for the month to summarise what has been going on in terms of tunnel completion.
Additionally, this will function as a summary of any verbal progress. In addition, probably will do up posts so that people can follow when there's an update and the respective contract pages will be updated too.

Downtown Line 2 summary for the month of October 2013

C916 - Beauty World station is back-filling the launch shaft area and left with 2 layers of struts. Strut level S2 is dismantled and just waiting to be hauled out. An Alstom sign was seen on the site and the area has been vacated to be transformed into the Temporary Staging Area for track works. Expect the road diversion at the junction of Upper Bukit Timah Rd and Jalan Jurong Kechil to be reinstated soon in view of the upcoming track works once back-filling is done.

C917 (King Albert Park) - Works have been progressing smoothly since the site take over by Mac Dow. You can now see Mac Dow banners up on the hoarding and the TBMs have been busy churning and making progress.

C917 (Sixth Avenue) - The crawler cranes on site have been raised once again since the site take over. Mac Dow banners now grace the hoarding here as well.

C918 - Works have resumed full swing. C&C area is busy. Near the launch shaft towards SAV, the concrete form works have been seen waiting to be lowered down into the tunnel area for concrete pouring.

C919 (Botanic Gardens) - The roof slab is mostly done, save for the area near to the transfer linkway to the Circle Line station. Removal of struts should begin soon and back-filling begin. Expect station modification works to come up in the Circle Line area shortly.

C921 (Little India) - Hacking of the temporary Earth Retaining System (diaphragm walls) is on going near the new exit at Little India along Race Course Road. Rebar for the vent shaft or new exit near LTA HQ is also underway with concrete pouring due to take place soon. Back-filling over the station roof slab is also underway. A new lift is being constructed at Entrance C to the station. Tracks are assembled along with sleepers at the TSA area under Alstom.

C921 (Rochor) - Breakthrough of the TBM at the Queen Street shaft in September will see the TBM being lifted out for the second drive on the Expo bound soon.