Heading east: New Thomson-East Coast line to be operational by 2024, says LTA

It will be Singapore’s sixth rail line.

The Land Transport Authority today revealed that the country’s sixth rail line is set to be operational in 10 years. It will be called the Thomson-East Coast Line and will connect the eastern part of the island to the heart of the city.

The 13-kilometre East Coast stretch of the TEL will connect commuters living in the eastern parts of Singapore and who are not directly served by the rail network currently, such as those in Tanjong Rhu, Siglap, Marine Parade, Upper East Coast and Bedok South, to the heart of the city.

As part of the 43-kilometre long TEL, the East Coast stretch will also connect commuters to the North-South corridor. Fully underground, this new stretch will have nine stations, including one interchange station with the Downtown Line (DTL). In all, TEL will have 31 stations, of which seven are interchanges.

According to the LTA, “In addition, LTA has finalised the alignment of the DTL3 Extension (DTL3e). This new extension will be 2.2 kilometres long and consists of two stations, including the interchange station with the East Coast stretch of TEL. It will improve public transport accessibility to the Changi Business Park and Expo areas. By linking the TEL and DTL, this extension also improves public transport connectivity in the eastern areas of Singapore, and helps relieve crowding on the East-West Line (EWL).”

Here’s more from LTA:
TEL will create new links in the east and bring about time savings for commuters who travel to the Central Business District today by bus, or to the northern part of Singapore.

For instance, a resident from East Coast travelling to Orchard will almost halve his journey time from 75 minutes to 45 minutes. A Republic Polytechnic student staying at Marine Parade can reach home in an hour, 20 minutes faster than the bus ride currently.

In addition, the TEL stations are designed with more entrances and exits. As part of our efforts to improve first and last mile connectivity, some of these entrances on the East Coast stretch will also be connected to longer underpasses of up to 400 metres.

These underpasses shelter commuters against the weather, reduce the time taken to walk to and from the station, and improve safety, particularly for the elderly and children, by removing the need to cross roads.