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Royston Sim | The Straits Times | Saturday, Jun 21, 2014
SINGAPORE - Part of the Punggol West LRT line will open by the end of the month, giving nearby residents another option to get to Punggol MRT station or bus interchange.
Three of the seven stations on the 5km loop, which was completed in 2004 but not opened until now, will start operations from 11.15am on June 29.
Trains will run at a frequency of seven to eight minutes and stop at the three stations - Soo Teck, Sumang and Nibong.
The light-rail service will run in one direction along the loop in the morning till 3pm and in the opposite direction from 3pm until 12.40am. This is to give most commuters a faster way to get to and from Punggol station throughout the day, said operator SBS Transit in a statement yesterday.
Four stations - Sam Kee, Teck Lee, Punggol Point and Samudera - are still closed and will open later in tandem with developments in the area.
"We have been closely monitoring the Punggol West developments and waiting for the day when residential and commercial developments would start sprouting," said SBS Transit's chief executive officer, Mr Gan Juay Kiat.
"That day is here," he added, in the statement.
A day after the opening of the Punggol West LRT system, SBS Transit will be adding 45 train trips each week to the weekday evening peak schedules of the North East Line, it said yesterday.
Housewife Yang Mi, 35, who lives in the Punggol West estate, said she is looking forward to using the LRT. She now takes a 10-minute walk from her block to Punggol station, which can be hard with her two children aged four and one in tow.
"The LRT will be more convenient," she said.
Punggol Emerald resident Tricia Teo, 27, said the LRT will be a boon when it rains. "Otherwise the way to Punggol station is not sheltered."
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Janil Puthucheary hopes the LRT will encourage more residents to leave their cars at home, and reduce congestion on roads in and out of Punggol. "It's going to be a very valued service," he said.
Those who live and work near the four unopened stations hope to see them open soon as well.
Mr Derrick Ong, 45, general manager of Marina Country Club, which sits between two unopened stations, said he has 2,000 to 3,000 visitors a day on weekdays, and double that on weekends.
About 40 per cent of them use a shuttle bus from Sengkang to get to the Marina, and would welcome the LRT, he said. "Some parents coming to the kindergarten have a hard time coming in."
Separately, the first of 13 new train cars for the Bukit Panjang LRT arrived in Singapore on Sunday, with the rest due over the new few months. The cars will undergo tests before they are injected into the network from the last quarter of this year.
Construction work on two additional platforms at Choa Chu Kang LRT station began this month, and they will be ready by 2016.
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa said in a Facebook post that the train cars will boost the LRT system's capacity by 50 per cent.
This article was first published on June 19, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
- See more at: http://transport.asiaone.com/news/general/story/part-punggol-west-lrt-line-open#sthash.AH03ApOL.dpuf
SINGAPORE - Part of the Punggol West LRT line will open by the end of the month, giving nearby residents another option to get to Punggol MRT station or bus interchange.
Three of the seven stations on the 5km loop, which was completed in 2004 but not opened until now, will start operations from 11.15am on June 29.
Trains will run at a frequency of seven to eight minutes and stop at the three stations - Soo Teck, Sumang and Nibong.
The light-rail service will run in one direction along the loop in the morning till 3pm and in the opposite direction from 3pm until 12.40am. This is to give most commuters a faster way to get to and from Punggol station throughout the day, said operator SBS Transit in a statement yesterday.
Four stations - Sam Kee, Teck Lee, Punggol Point and Samudera - are still closed and will open later in tandem with developments in the area.
"We have been closely monitoring the Punggol West developments and waiting for the day when residential and commercial developments would start sprouting," said SBS Transit's chief executive officer, Mr Gan Juay Kiat.
"That day is here," he added, in the statement.
A day after the opening of the Punggol West LRT system, SBS Transit will be adding 45 train trips each week to the weekday evening peak schedules of the North East Line, it said yesterday.
Housewife Yang Mi, 35, who lives in the Punggol West estate, said she is looking forward to using the LRT. She now takes a 10-minute walk from her block to Punggol station, which can be hard with her two children aged four and one in tow.
"The LRT will be more convenient," she said.
Punggol Emerald resident Tricia Teo, 27, said the LRT will be a boon when it rains. "Otherwise the way to Punggol station is not sheltered."
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Janil Puthucheary hopes the LRT will encourage more residents to leave their cars at home, and reduce congestion on roads in and out of Punggol. "It's going to be a very valued service," he said.
Those who live and work near the four unopened stations hope to see them open soon as well.
Mr Derrick Ong, 45, general manager of Marina Country Club, which sits between two unopened stations, said he has 2,000 to 3,000 visitors a day on weekdays, and double that on weekends.
About 40 per cent of them use a shuttle bus from Sengkang to get to the Marina, and would welcome the LRT, he said. "Some parents coming to the kindergarten have a hard time coming in."
Separately, the first of 13 new train cars for the Bukit Panjang LRT arrived in Singapore on Sunday, with the rest due over the new few months. The cars will undergo tests before they are injected into the network from the last quarter of this year.
Construction work on two additional platforms at Choa Chu Kang LRT station began this month, and they will be ready by 2016.
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa said in a Facebook post that the train cars will boost the LRT system's capacity by 50 per cent.
This article was first published on June 19, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
- See more at: http://transport.asiaone.com/news/general/story/part-punggol-west-lrt-line-open#sthash.AH03ApOL.dpuf
How can you cut maintenance on something as essential as public transport, until breakdowns are so common
