Jurong East (MRT Singapore)
The Jurong East MRT Station is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit -Station in Singapore . It is part of the North South Line (branch line before 1996) and the East West Line and serves as a transfer station between the two lines.
Located at the east end of Jurong , it connects the residential areas of Yuhua and Teban Gardens, as well as International Business Park and Toh Tuck, to the rest of the island by rail. Passenger traffic is expected to increase as sites in the neighboring Jurong Lake District project are developed.
On the North South Line, it is the first stop for trains going south and the last stop for trains going north. On the East West Line, it's between Chinese Garden and Clementi. During morning and evening peak hours, trains arrive direct from Ulu Pandan Depot to begin service on the North South Line. This station was also the first to make announcements about train connections when the branch line opened in 1990. The distance between this station and Clementi is the longest between two stations on the East West Line and takes four minutes.
The station appeared as one of the four MRT stations in the original Singapore edition of the board game Monopoly .
design
The station was designed by Scott Danielson and has a roof that uses a geometric design similar to the original Jurong East Bus Interchange to match with the adjacent structure.
history
The Jurong East Modification Project (JEMP) was a major infrastructural modernization project that included the construction of two new platforms and a new track in Jurong East, allowing two trains along the North South Line to enter and exit the station at the same time. Previously, trains had to alternate between arriving and departing from the station using a common middle path. The new platforms and tracks enable shorter train intervals, shorten waiting times and reduce overcrowding in trains.
The station was retrofitted with half-height platform screen doors in 2009 and put into operation on December 18, 2009. It was the third above-ground station to have half-height platform screen doors installed and in operation. Platform screen doors from the JEMP were also installed for the new platforms and put into operation on May 27, 2011. Originally slated to open in 2012, Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced on February 12, 2009 that the date had been brought forward by one year to 2011. Construction began in 2009 and was completed and handed over to the operator around the clock. First quarter of 2011 with the new platforms and tracks being tested since then, prior to the May 16, 2011 announcement of the May 27, 2011 operating date.
In order to connect the new tracks with the existing tracks, the train connections between Jurong East and Clementi were suspended on September 4th and 5th, 2010, followed by train connections between Jurong East and Bukit Gombak on September 18th and 19th, 2010. SMRT operated high frequency buses for bridging services on the affected routes on both weekends. During the first operating period, the new platforms and tracks were only served on weekdays, excluding public holidays, during the morning rush hour from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., as only five new C151A trains were available for the revenue service. The evening peak hours of 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays began on December 27, 2011, while the morning peak hour was extended by one hour to 10:00 a.m. after the next train series was ready for the revenue service.
Web links
- Jurong East MRT Station , landtransportguru.net