Punggol LRT line

This article is about the LRT line. For the MRT/LRT station on the line, see Punggol MRT/LRT station.

The Punggol LRT is an automated guideway transit line in Singapore. The line, which initially opened on 29 January 2005, connects the residential districts and suburbs of Punggol to Punggol Digital District and Punggol Town Centre, which consist of Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)’s campus and JTC’s Business Park, and where the town centre connects with the North East MRT line, Punggol Bus Interchange, and Waterway Point.

Punggol LRT
A C810 on the Punggol LRT
Overview
Native name	Laluan LRT Punggol 榜鹅轻轨线 பொங்கோல் எல்ஆர்டி வரி
Status	Operational
Owner	Land Transport Authority
Locale	Singapore
Termini	Punggol
Stations	15
Service
Type	Automated guideway transit/People mover
System	Light Rail Transit (Singapore)
Services	4
Operator(s)	SBS Transit Ltd (ComfortDelGro Corporation)
Depot(s)	Sengkang
Rolling stock	Mitsubishi Crystal Mover (C810) Mitsubishi Crystal Mover (C810A) Mitsubishi Crystal Mover (C810D) (Future)
Daily ridership	23,698 (July 2020)[1]
History
Opened	29 January 2005; 19 years ago (2005-01-29) (East Loop) 29 June 2014; 10 years ago (2014-06-29) (West Loop)
Technical
Line length	10.3 km (6.4 mi)
Character	Fully elevated
Track gauge	1,850 mm (6 ft 27⁄32 in) Guide rail span: 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Electrification	750 V DC Third rail[2]
Signalling	Kyosan APM fixed block ATC under ATO GoA 4 (UTO), with subsystems of ATP, ATS and CBI[3]
Route map Legend West loop  PW4  Samudera Punggol Point  PW3   PW5  Nibong Teck Lee  PW2  Punggol Waterway  PW6  Sumang Sam Kee  PW1   PW7  Soo Teck  CP4  North East Line to HarbourFront ■ ■ North East Line to Punggol Coast  NE17  non-revenue track to Sengkang LRT Punggol  PTC  Punggol Rd  PE1  Cove Damai  PE7   PE2  Meridian Oasis  PE6   PE3  Coral Edge Kadaloor  PE5   PE4  Riviera ■ Cross Island Line to Pasir Ris  CP3  East loop This diagram: view talk edit

Concourse level of Punggol MRT/LRT station, with escalators leading up to the LRT platform.

The first phase is a 10.3-kilometre (6.4 mi) line with 15 stations in two loops. It is the second LRT line to be operated by SBS Transit.

History

Plans for the Punggol LRT line were drawn up and announced in January 1999 with the development of Punggol New Town. Construction began in June 2000 by a consortium comprising Sembcorp Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation, at a cost of S$354 million. Meanwhile, the Punggol LRT line was awarded to Singapore Bus Service (present-day SBS Transit) on 20 May 1999.^[4][5] The first phase was completed in June 2004 and underwent testing by the Land Transport Authority. The system was handed over to SBS Transit on 1 December that year, which conducted more trial runs and staff training before the opening of the East Loop on 29 January 2005.^[6][7][8] However, due to limited developments around some stations on the loop at the time, only the stretch of stations from Cove station to Kadaloor station were opened.^[9] The West Loop opened in stages from 29 June 2014.^[10]

In 2024, the Land Transport Authority announced that the Teck Lee LRT station will open to improve public transport connectivity and serve the upcoming Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) Punggol campus. This came after 19 years since the opening of the line in 2005. The date of the opening of Teck Lee station was later announced to be 15 August 2024.^[11][12]

A covered middle track at Punggol station and two short track pieces branching from Teck Lee station had already been built in anticipation of a possible branch line to Punggol North, but these plans were subsequently cancelled, and a new Punggol Coast MRT station is being built instead.^[13]

Improvements

On 31 October 2012, the Land Transport Authority announced that by 2016 the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines would be upgraded to two-car trains, doubling the passenger capacity. An additional 16 more cars were to be ordered, bringing the total fleet size to 57. The longer trains also required modifications to the signaling and communication system.^[14]

On 29 December 2016, trains started operating in the two-car formations on the line's East loop during morning and evening peak hours from 6.45 am to 8.45 am and from 6.15 pm to 8.15 pm. Service frequency will be maintained at three to four minutes during morning and evening peak hours.^[15]

On 15 December 2017, the Land Transport Authority said there will be limited services on parts of the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) on most Sundays from 14 January 2018 to 25 February that year, to facilitate renewal and improvement works from (except 18 February as it is a Chinese New Year holiday). Only one platform will open for service at 5.30am on Sundays. The other platform will open from 7am.^[16][17][18] On 22nd of that month, SBS Transit said the arrangement is expected to continue until end April that year.^[19][20]

From 27 May to 7 October that year, limited services on Sundays will continue on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT). One platform will open at 5.30am and the other platform will open at 5.30pm.^[21][22]

On 5 February 2021, the Land Transport Authority announced that it has purchased 17 two-car trains for the Punggol and Sengkang LRT systems. The new trains will be delivered progressively from 2024 to 2027. In addition to new trains, the Sengkang Depot will also be expanded to 11.1 ha (27.4 acres) from the existing 3.5 ha (8.6 acres) to ensure that is capacity and maintenance space for the new trains. The expansion of the depot will also see two new reception tracks being built to shorten the train launching time. To ensure there is enough electricity to support the larger fleet of trains, 3 new power stations will be built, increasing the total number of power stations supporting the system to 8 once completed.^[23]

Stations

Punggol LRT line stations timeline

Date	Project	Description
29 January 2005	East Loop	East Loop (except Oasis and Damai stations) opened for uni-directional operation.[24]
15 June 2007		Oasis opened.[25][26]
20 June 2011		Damai opened. East Loop became fully operational in both directions throughout the day.[27]
29 June 2014	West Loop	West Loop (except for Sam Kee, Teck Lee, Punggol Point and Samudera) opened for uni-directional operation.[10]
29 February 2016		Sam Kee opened.[28]
29 December 2016		Punggol Point opened.[15][29]
31 March 2017		Samudera opened.[30]
29 September 2018		West loop became fully operational in both directions throughout the day, except for Teck Lee.[29]
15 August 2024		Teck Lee opened.[31]

Stations on the line.

Legend

Elevated	Line terminus	Transfer outside paid area
Ground-level	Wheelchair accessible	Bus interchange
Underground	Civil Defence Shelter	Other transportation modes

List

Station code	Station name	Images	Interchange; Adjacent transportation	Opening	Location(s)
PTC  NE17  CP4	Punggol		North East Line    CRL Punggol Extension  (2032) ―  Punggol	29 January 2005; 19 years ago	Punggol
East Loop
PE1	Cove		—	29 January 2005; 19 years ago	Punggol
PE2	Meridian
PE3	Coral Edge
PE4 – CP3	Riviera		CRL Punggol Extension   (2032)
PE5	Kadaloor		—
PE6	Oasis			15 June 2007; 17 years ago
PE7	Damai			20 June 2011; 13 years ago
West Loop
PW1	Sam Kee		—	29 February 2016; 8 years ago	Punggol
PW2	Teck Lee			15 August 2024; 4 months ago
PW3	Punggol Point			29 December 2016; 8 years ago
PW4	Samudera			31 March 2017; 7 years ago
PW5	Nibong			29 June 2014; 10 years ago
PW6	Sumang
PW7	Soo Teck

Services

There are four services in total, with two on each loop. However, on the Electronic Display, they will not show the service letters.

Service	Terminal	via	Loop	Direction
A	Punggol	Soo Teck	West Loop	Soo Teck to Sam Kee Clockwise direction
B	Punggol	Cove	East Loop	Cove to Damai Anti-clockwise direction
C	Punggol	Damai	East Loop	Damai to Cove Clockwise direction
D	Punggol	Sam Kee	West Loop	Sam Kee to Soo Teck Anti-clockwise direction

Rolling stock

A Mitsubishi Crystal Mover C810 train pulling into Cove LRT station.

The Punggol LRT operates on the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Crystal Mover rolling stock shared with the Sengkang LRT. An initial 41 trainsets entered service in 2003 under C810, with an additional 16 trainsets were delivered in 2016 under C810A, bearing only minor exterior differences from its predecessor. They are maintained and stabled at Sengkang Depot, with a service track between the Punggol and Sengkang LRT systems for the Punggol LRT trains to head to and from the depot.

The procurement of a further 34 vehicles (17 two-car trains) to boost the capacity of the Sengkang-Punggol LRT was announced by the Land Transport Authority in February 2021.

These trains, also known as automated people movers, are rubber-tyred for minimized operating noise within built-up areas and guided by two side rails and a power rail on either side. They operate in both single-car and double-car arrangements.

Train formation

The original system consists of single-car C810s. Each unit is 11.2 metres (37 ft) long and can carry up to 105 passengers. 16 original C810s were modified to allow two-car train operation and 16 C810As came with this configuration. This boosted the capacity to 204 passengers per trip.

Train control

The line is equipped with Kyosan APM fixed block signalling system for Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 4 (UTO).^[32] The subsystems consist of Automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains, and a computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points settings.

Incidents

• On 9 June 2024, a signalling fault on the Sengkang LRT and Punggol LRT lines caused services to be suspended from the first trains around 5.45 am until 10.12 am.^[33]

References

1. "Land Transport DataMall". mytransport.sg. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
2. Hiroyuki Mochidome; Masahisa Masukawa; Yasuyuki Suzuki; Makoto Kashiwa; Shinichi Sadamitsu; Hiroyuki Kouno (June 2003). "Automated People Mover System 'Crystal Mover' for Singapore's LTA" (PDF). Technical Review. 40 (3). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
3. "Kyosan Corporate Report 2018". 2018. p. 19 to 20. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
4. "Appointment of operator for the North East MRT line". NAS. 20 May 1999. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
5. "SBS to run North-East line Tibs to merge with SMRT". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 21 May 1999. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
6. "Speech By Mr Yeo Cheow Tong At The Official Opening Of Punggol LRT On 29 January 2005". mot.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
7. "Punggol LRT completed". Today. 2 December 2004.
8. "Punggol LRT to open on 29 Jan". Today. 28 January 2005.
9. "Selected stops for Punggol LRT". The New Paper. 11 January 2005.
10. "Punggol West LRT System to Commence Passenger Service and North East line to Add More Train Trips". SBS Transit. 18 June 2014. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
11. Soh, Therese (8 May 2024). "Teck Lee LRT station to open near upcoming SIT campus in Punggol". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
12. "Teck Lee LRT station will open to improve connectivity to SIT's Punggol Campus: LTA". CNA. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
13. "Singapore's Lost Railways Hunt - The Unfinished Punggol North LRT". YouTube. En Garde Post. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
14. "2-car System for Sengkang Punggol LRT by 2016; Improvements to Choa Chu Kang LRT station". Land Transport Authority. 31 October 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
15. "Commencement of Two-Car Operations on Punggol LRT East Loop & Opening of Punggol Point LRT station on 29 December 2016". SBS Transit. 29 December 2016. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
16. "Limited service along Sengkang-Punggol LRT on Sundays in Jan, Feb to facilitate rail works". Archived from the original on 16 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
17. "Limited Sengkang-Punggol LRT services on Sunday mornings from 14 Jan". Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
18. hermes (16 December 2017). "Limited service on Sundays for Sengkang-Punggol LRT". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 18 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
19. "Maintenance work to resume on Sengkang and Punggol LRT systems on 4 Mar". Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
20. hermesauto (22 February 2018). "Maintenance works to resume on Sengkang and Punggol LRT systems". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
21. hermesauto (11 May 2018). "SBS Transit extends limited service on Sundays for Sengkang, Punggol LRT to October". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
22. "Limited service hours on Sundays for Sengkang-Punggol LRT to be extended". Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
23. "Sengkang-Punggol LRT to get 17 new two-car trains to boost capacity". Channel NewsAsia. 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
24. "Punggol LRT and Sengkang LRT West Loop to Commence Revenue Service on 29 January 2005". SBS Transit. 10 January 2005. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
25. "Oasis station on Punggol LRT Loop opens on Friday". Channel NewsAsia$3. 14 June 2007. Archived from the original on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
26. "Opening of Oasis LRT station". SBS Transit. 14 June 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
27. "Opening of Damai station & Punggol LRT Operating in Both Directions from 20 June" (PDF). SBS Transit. 17 June 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
28. "Sam Kee station on Punggol LRT System to open for Passenger Services". SBS Transit. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
29. "LTA | News Room | News Releases | Joint News Release by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) & SBS Transit - Commencement of Two-Car Operations on Punggol LRT East Loop & Opening of Punggol Point LRT Station on 29 December 2016". lta.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
30. "Opening of Samudera Station on Punggol West LRT Loop". SBS Transit. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
31. "Teck Lee LRT station to open on Aug 15; trains on Sengkang-Punggol line to double". CNA. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
32. "Products and Services | Kyosan Electric Mfg. Co., Ltd". kyosan.co.jp. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
33. "Punggol-Sengkang LRT service resumes after 4-hour disruption on Sunday morning". The Straits Times. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.

External links

• Punggol LRT line