Thomson Line

The Thomson Line (TSL) will be the sixth MRT lines and the fourth fully automatic and driverless system line in Singapore. The whole line will be completely underground. It is now under final stages of the advance engineering study. Costing S$18 billion and opening in three phases, starting from 2019 onwards, Thomson Line will add greatly to the accessibility and connectivity of the current rail network, with interchanges to all other five MRT lines. It will also serve about 400,000 commuters daily.





The line, which is 30 km (19 mi) long and consists of 22 stations, will run through the north-south corridor, starting in northern of Woodlands area, passing through the industrial estate of Sin Ming, down to the residential Thomson area and the shopping districts of Orchard and Marina Bay, before ending at Gardens by the Bay. Residents in the heartlands of Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Moulmein-Kallang will benefit from faster and more direct connections to the city. For its depot, it will be a 32 ha (79 acres) depot which will be located at Mandai, south of Woodlands.

History
Thomson Line was first announced on 25 January 2008. Several architectural and engineering consultancy packages have been released in 2010 which indicated an increase in the number of stations from 18 in the initial announcement to the current 22 and length of the line from 27-km to 30-km.

 On 16 June 2011, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the location of the depot for the line, due to begin construction at the end of 2012. It also announced Woodlands as an interchange with the existing North South Line and an additional station located near to Republic Polytechnic. This northern terminus would also house the Johor Bahru RTS link.

 On 11 July 2012, a speech by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, at Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) Tunelling Works Ceremony, mentioned that LTA are in the final stages of the advance engineering study for the Thomson Line, and will announce the alignment and stations in the next few months. Thomson Line, officially, will connect with the Eastern Region Line.



Quoted from a speech by Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport, at the inspection of Downtown Line 1 station and announcement of Thomson Line alignment at Telok Ayer on 29 August 2012, that Thomson Line will be ready from 2019 onwards instead of the indicative timeline of 2018 announced in the Land Transport Masterplan (LTMP). Thomson Line also will be opening progressively in three stages from the north to the south — the first phase in 2019, the second phase in 2020, and the entire line by 2021.

Phase 1 (2019)
Phase 1 consists of Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South. This phase will affect passengers living in northern of Singapore which enhance accessibility and connectivity to CBD and downtown area. Instead of travelling using the only one line, North South Line, to southern of Singapore, the availability of Thomson Line will reduce travelling time taken up to 50%.





Phase 2 (2020)
Phase 2, comprises middle section of Thomson Line, namely Springleaf, Lentor, Mayflower, Sin Ming, Upper Thomson and Caldecott. An example quoted from a speech, stated that passengers living in Sin Ming travelling to Gardens by the Bay would save 25 min of travelling time from the current 65 min for the journey. Residents of the new developed Springleaf estate too will be welcomed by a new MRT station in the future. Passengers living in west of Ang Mo Kio or Thomson will also be able to experience savings in travel time when commuting around. As for Caldecott, it will become an interchange station with Thomson Line when opens in 2020 and will connect commuters to the orbital CCL, offering inter-suburban connectivity.





Phase 3 (2021)
<p class="MsoNormal">Phase 3 includes the final thirteen stations from Mount Pleasant to the terminus, Gardens by the Bay. Interchanging with the four current lines — North South Line (NSL), East West Line (EWL), North East Line (NEL), Circle Line (CCL) and the upcoming line, Downtown Line (DTL), Thomson Line will ease the burden of the high capacity usage of the current lines. Outram Park and Marina Bay stations will also provide excellent network access with the TSL connecting to the EWL and NEL at Outram Park, and the NSL and CCL at Marina Bay.

Rolling Stock
On 29 August 2012, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Transport, mentioned in his speech that TSL's rolling stock will be four-car system instead of a three-car system, to enable additional capacity to cope with any increase in long-term demand.