Brief overview of Stage 3 in 1st Quarter

It is already coming to the end of April, so we'll just cover the stage in brief for the first quarter of the year in this post, taking a look at some updates from the station sites today. Starting with the terminal point at Expo.

Expo
The station has been fully excavated and work now progresses on to the structure itself. Rebar is first installed and then concrete is poured to form the structural skeleton of the station. Currently, work is focused on the platform and under-platform levels.

A view of the work area for the future exit next to the Singapore Expo foyer.

Mining method for cripple siding

A cripple siding is an extra track that is used to facilitate withdrawal or storage of trains that are not part of revenue service. For instance, trains that are on standby for emergency situations as evacuation trains or trains that are faulty and not fit for passenger service. The Downtown Line has several cripple sidings along its 42-km route length and most are constructed using the open cut technique, known as cut-and-cover (the process of excavating the earth - cut; and subsequently back-filling over the completed tunnel - cover). However, there lies one section of cripple siding that is being constructed using the mining method.

Cripple siding near Bedok North station

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.