TL;DR – It will be Singapore’s 7th MRT line!
On 6 Feb 2020, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded a contract to Hyundai Rotem Company (HRC) for the design, manufacturing and supplying of 62 fully automatic and driverless MRT trains for the upcoming Jurong Region Line (JRL).
Each train will consist of three carriages.
Here’s what you need to know about the JRL
The JRL will be Singapore’s 7th MRT line, spanning 24km and 24 stations.
It is represented as the pi-shaped turquoise network on the future MRT system map.
The JRL will connect Choa Chu Kang, Boon Lay, Jurong, NTU, and the upcoming Tengah New Town together and improve connectivity in the western region of Singapore.
As the JRL will be constructed in densely built areas, the trains for the JRL will have to be narrower than the present fleet of trains so as to navigate the network.
The carriages are about 18.6m long and 2.76m wide, compared to the dimensions of the present trains at 23.6m by 3.2m.
The JRL trains will be equipped with wide doors to improve passenger boarding and alighting at stations. Passengers on wheelchairs and families with baby in strollers will also get to benefit from the wide spaces throughout the trains.
The trains will also be equipped with new condition-monitoring and diagnostic devices to check on and provide real-time updates of the rail systems to maintenance crews to better prepare for preventive maintenance.
On top of that, for the first time in Singapore, equipped with emergency batteries on-board, which will allow the trains to continue moving to the next station to disembark passengers, in the event of a power supply failure on the line.
Unfortunately, they will not come with your favourite Korean idols. 🙁
The first JRL train will be delivered to Singapore from South Korea in 2024 and tests will commence thereafter. The JRL will be opened in three stages, from 2026 onwards.
Stage 1 (2026): Choa Chu Kang to Boon Lay, Gek Poh and Tawas
Stage 2 (2027): Tengah to Pandan Reservoir
Stage 3 (2028): Enterprise to Jurong Pier and Nanyang Gateway to Peng Kang Hill
About the train manufacturer
HRC is a South Korean train manufacturer with vast experience in the railway industry, manufacturing mass transit trains for the domestic market in Seoul, Incheon, Busan and amongst others, as well as having exported mass transit trains to other cities such as Hong Kong, Vancouver, Hyderabad, Athens, Istanbul and Sao Paulo.
HRC was also previously involved in the mid-life upgrading and refurbishment of 66 first-generation MRT trains on the NSEWL here in Singapore, back in 2006.
The JRL train contract is HRC’s first major contract to supply brand new trains for Singapore’s MRT.
Looking forward to cool new rides on the JRL when it commences passenger services!