Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced the alignment and station locations of the Cross Island Line Phase 2 (CRL2) from Bright Hill to Jurong Lake District.
The new rail line is approximately 15 km and comprises six underground stations – Turf City, King Albert Park, Maju, Clementi, West Coast and Jurong Lake District. It aims to improve public transport accessibility for residents living in the west of Singapore, including areas such as Sunset Way and West Coast that are not currently served by an MRT line.
Two of the six stations will be interchange stations, with King Albert Park station connecting commuters to the Downtown Line, and Clementi station to the East-West Line. Construction works are expected to begin in 2023, and the stations are slated to open by 2032.
Together with the 12 stations in CRL Phase 1 (CRL1) and four stations on CRL-Punggol Extension, CRL2 will provide alternative travel options for commuters and help to redistribute commuter load across the entire rail network, said LTA.
It will also enhance connectivity for eastern, western and north-eastern areas and provide accessibility to existing and new growth areas such as West Coast and Jurong Lake District. This will help LTA achieve its target of having 8 in 10 homes within a 10-minute walk to a train station.
LTA also explained that to facilitate the construction of CRL2, three part lots of private land – consisting of two industrial units owned by JTC that are currently leased to private entities, and a stratum of subterranean space located under part of a private land parcel – will be acquired by the government.
The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has gazetted the acquisition of the affected land. SLA and LTA will work closely with the affected landowners and sublessees and assist them through the acquisition process.
CRL is Singapore’s eighth and longest fully underground MRT line, featuring more than 50 km long. It will serve existing and future developments in the eastern, north-eastern and western corridors. The entire project will be constructed in three phases.
Announced in 2019, CRL1 is 29 km long with 12 stations from Aviation Park to Bright Hill. Since March this year, all the civil contracts for CRL1 have been awarded. Construction works have commenced and are expected to be completed by 2030.
A 7.3-km extension to CRL, which connects Pasir Ris to Punggol, was announced in 2020. This CRL-Punggol Extension consists of four stations, namely Punggol, Riviera, Elias and Pasir Ris. Construction works are expected to commence by end 2022, with completion in 2032.
According to LTA, the Environmental Impact Study and Heritage Impact Assessment for CRL2 have been completed and the reports will be published on LTA and the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) respective websites next month for public feedback.
Meanwhile, engineering studies for CRL Phase 3 are currently ongoing, which will serve the Jurong Industrial Estate. More details will be announced after these studies are completed.
