SINGAPORE: Twelve new six-car trains for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) - the final instalment in a batch of 57 to be put into service from 2016 to 2019 - have been purchased at a cost of about S$136.8 million, the Land Transport Authority said.
In a press release on Tuesday (Sep 22), LTA said it has awarded a contract to a consortium comprising Kawasaki Heavy Industries, CSR Qingdao Sifang and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) for the purchase of these trains.
These new trains will be the first trains to feature tip-up seats for additional flexibility in seat configuration, LTA said. They will also have three rows of straphangers and triplicated grab-poles. A Dynamic Route Map Display located at the top of each door will tell commuters their current location, route information, and which the side the train doors will open at the next station.
The 12 trains are the final batch of 57 new trains that will be running from 2016 to 2019. The first of these 12 trains will arrive in Singapore in early-2018, and will be tested at North South and East West Line depots before they are put into service in the middle of 2019.
From 2015 to 2019, LTA will add 99 more trains to the NSEWL, North East Line and Circle Line, which will see the overall train fleet grow by close to 50 per cent. This includes the 57 new trains that will enter the service from 2016.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which has supplied trains for Japan and New York City, delivered the first inaugural fleet of MRT trains in Singapore in 1986, and has supplied most of the trains on the NSEWL.
- CNA/wl