Downtown Line 3 tunnelling works kick-off

The entire tunnelling process is expected to take about 25 months but Land Transportation Authority notes of 2 key challenges.

Tunnelling works for the third and final stage of the Downtown Line (DTL3) officially start yesterday (July11) at the site of the future Mattar station.

At a ceremony in the morning, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, Mrs Josephine Teo, launched the first of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which will tunnel through a distance of about 1.4km to Geylang Bahru station.

LTA however said that the tunnelling works along DTL3 will present a range of challenges as the alignment traverses through difficult ground conditions such as very soft ground and marine clay.

Also, LTA added, to avoid tunnelling under buildings, these tunnels have been aligned to stack on top of each other at certain stretches. These tunnels will also run under the Kallang - Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and the Pelton canal in the direction of MacPherson station as well as under the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).

Few more things you need to know about DLTR:

The Downtown Line (DTL) is being built in three stages - DTL1 is targeted for completion in 2013, DTL2 in 2015, and DTL3 in 2017.

There are 16 stations in DTL3, from Expo station in the east to Fort Canning station in the heart of town. DTL3 has three interchange stations - MacPherson, Tampines and Expo, allowing commuters to transfer to the East West Line and Circle Line.

Benefits of DTL3

Running almost parallel to the East West Line (EWL), the DTL3 will provide a convenient transport link for residents and commuters living and working along the line to the Central Business District, the Marina Bay area and the rest of the island.

The DTL3 will also bring commuters time savings through connections from the three interchange stations to existing rail networks. For example, with a direct connection from Fort Canning station to the Marina Bay area, a train ride will take only 15 minutes, compared to the current 35 minutes by bus.

Timeframe for Tunnelling Works

The entire tunnelling process along the 21km stretch of DTL3 is expected to take about 25 months with 29 TBMs being launched at different locations along the alignment. DTL3 is on track to be completed in 2017.