SBS fast tracks 60 more weekly trips for North-East Line

Wait times will be reduced from 5.5 minutes to as low as 3.5 minutes come March 19.

60 More Weekly Trips Added to the North East Line

1. To cater to growing demand in rail travel, the LTA has worked with the Public Transport Operators (PTOs) to enhance the capacity of the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL) and the North East Line (NEL). With the latest 60 additional weekly train trips by SBS Transit from 19 March 2012, the total number of weekly train trips added by the operators since 2008 will be slightly more than 2,900.

60 more weekly trips added to the North East Line

2. From 19 March 2012, SBS Transit will add 60 more trips a week to the North-East Line (NEL). These will reduce waiting times for commuters during the shoulder of morning peak hours. On weekdays between 6.45am and 7.30am, the average waiting time will be reduced by up to two minutes from the current 5.5 minutes.

3. With the latest addition, a total of 230 train trips per week would have been added to the NEL since 2011.

More than 800 weekly trips added by SMRT since completion of the Jurong East Modification Project in May 2011

4. For the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), the completion of the Jurong East Modification Project (JEMP) and injection of the 22 additional trains progressively from May 2011 has helped to unlock a key constraint to the capacity enhancement of the NSEWL. As a result, more capacity has been introduced during the morning peak period. For example, to cater to the heavily used stations at Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Gombak and Bukit Batok, more trips have been added on each weekday between 7.30am to 9.30am.

5. On weekday evenings, passengers transferring from the East-West Line to the North-South Line at Jurong East interchange have seen improvements in their commute. Additional trips have also been introduced on the East-West Line during the evening peak hours. On the North-South Line, the shuttle train trips currently plying between Jurong East and Yew Tee stations in the evenings have been extended to Marsiling, and additional shuttle trips added to provide greater convenience to commuters.

6. To cater to the increasing number of northbound commuters heading home from the city on Saturday evenings between 9.45pm to 10.45pm, SMRT has also injected additional trips to improve capacity and reduce waiting time.

7. In all, SMRT has added more than 800 weekly train trips since May 2011. Passengers now enjoy increased service frequencies, shorter waiting time and less crowding.

Overall increase on MRT system

8. With these additional MRT trips, the operators have added a total of 1,520 train trips on the existing lines since 2011, and more than 2,900 train trips since the start of the Land Transport Masterplan in 2008. These additional train trips have helped to ease crowding, improve waiting times and enhance the level of train service for commuters.