The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore has awarded civil and electrical and mechanical contracts for the automated Thomson and Eastern Region Lines with a total value of nearly 1.15 billion Singapore dollars.

The contracts include the communications system, signalling system and platform screen doors for the two lines, as well as the construction of Mt Pleasant, Stevens and Maxwell stations.

The 30-km long Thomson Line will enhance rail connectivity in the north-south corridors to the Central Business District (CBD) and developments in the Marina Bay area. Fully underground, it will comprise 22 stations, including six interchange stations linking to the North-South-East-West Line (NSEWL), Downtown Line (DTL), North East Line (NEL) and Circle Line (CCL).

The Eastern Region Line will run together with the Thomson Line as one line. More details of the Eastern Region Line will be announced at a later date.

Electrical and Mechanical Contracts

The contract for provision of the signalling system and platform screen doors has been awarded to GE Singapore Pte Ltd/GE Transportation Systems S.p.A/GE Transportation France SNC/GE Transportation Systems Global Signaling LLC Consortium (GE) at approximately S$159 million. This contract includes design, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the Signalling System and Platform Screen Doors for the entire Thomson and Eastern Region Lines.

The signalling system design is based on the communication-based train control moving block signalling technology, automatic train supervision system and computer-based interlocking. It supports fully automated driverless train operation.

GE has completed several railway signalling railway projects in North America, Brazil, Europe and Australia. It has also performed a trial for the proposed signalling system in Hong Kong.

Communications System

The contract for provision of the communications system has been awarded to Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited (STE). The approximate value awarded for this contract is S$124 million.

The communications system for the Thomson and Eastern Region Lines comprises many sub-systems such as the communications backbone network, digital trunked radio, video surveillance, public address, telephone and travel information systems.

STE has a strong presence in the rail transportation market in Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Thailand, the UAE and Turkey since 1983. Its rail solutions include Integrated Supervisory Control Systems, Communication Systems, Automatic Fare Collection Systems, Platform Screen Doors and Maintenance Management Systems. STE is also currently involved in the Downtown Line, Tuas West Extension and Marina South Pier projects.

Contracts for stations and associated tunnels

The construction of Mt Pleasant station and its associated tunnels has been awarded to a joint venture of RSEA Engineering Corporation Privatised 2009 (RSEA), Eng Lee Engineering Pte Ltd (Eng Lee) and Wai Fong Construction Pte Ltd (Wai Fong) at a contract sum of approximately S$207 million.

Mt Pleasant station will serve as the fifth Civil Defence shelter along the Thomson Line. The four others are Woodlands, Lentor, Mayflower and Sin Ming stations.

The contract for the construction of Stevens station and its associated tunnels has been awarded to Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd for a contract sum of approximately S$441 million.

Stevens station will be an interchange station connecting the Thomson Line with Downtown Line, allowing commuters to enjoy connectivity between the Thomson and Bukit Timah corridors.

The construction of Maxwell station has been awarded to Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure Pte Ltd at a contract sum of approximately S$222 million.

Construction for the three stations will start in the second quarter of 2014 and are to be completed by 2021.

Source: LTA press release