At last the long awaited opening of the Circle Line's (CCL) 11 new MRT stations opened on Saturday, 17 April 2010, joining the 5 stations - Marymount to Bartley - which were opened on 28 May 2009. This is part of the 29-station line, 33.3 km long.These 11 stations, Tai Seng - Dhoby Ghaut, opened to much fanfare. From now,catching a concert at the Esplanade, support your favourite football team at the National Studium, and shop at Plaza Singapura is just a train-ride away from one another and linking these parts of town to the suburbs.
A summary of the 11 stations are :
1) Dhoby Ghaut station
2) Bras Basah station
3) Esplanade station
4) Promenade station
5) Nicoll Highway station
6) Tai Seng station
7) Stadium station
8) Mountbatten station
9) Dakota station
10) Paya Lebar station
11) MacPherson station
As at 8pm Saturday, SMRT had a ridership of some 220,000. Over at the Stadium Station, we
had the Taiwanese pop band SHE event and Taiwanese rock band Mayday's concerts.
Before the opening of Stadium Station, concert-goers had to go to the Kallang MRT Station, transfer to a bus or walk to reach the Singapore Indoor Stadium. With the opening of Stadium Station, which is withing walking distance to the one of Singapore's most popular concert venues. Cheers to all concert-goers.
1) The Dhoby Ghaut and Paya Lebar interchange stations will allow commuters who are travelling to and from the east, north and north-east to bypass City Hall and Raffles Place.
a) Paya Lebar to Bishan, 17 minutes instead of current 35 minutes.
b) Kovan to Suntec City, 26 minutes instead of current 40 minutes.
The original budget of $6.7 billion was busted after a tunnel near Nicoll Highway collapsed in 2004, killing four workers. Since then, all underground works had to be made far more robust and changes made for some stations. Also with the increasing cost of raw materials like sand, concrete and steel from year 2007, it definitely has pushed the cost up. What is your guess of the cost of the entire project may reach, $10 billions ?
The Circle Line Stage 3 that connects Bishan on the North-South Line and Serangoon station on the NEL was opened for revenue service on 28 May 2009. More stations on the Circle Line such as the Thomson and West Coast Stations will be opened subsequently to enhance the reach and connectivity of the Circle Line, and allow more people to benefit from the MRT. The remaining stretch of the line will open some time next year, he said. It lies in the northwestern and western parts of Singapore, with stations at places such as Holland Village, Botanic Gardens and the National University of Singapore.
To enhance the accessibility of the Marina Bay area to the rest of the island, LTA will also build and open the Marina Bay station as part of the CCL extension beyond Bayfront station in 2012.
