LTA awards S$250 million contract for 17 new North-East and Circle Line trains
The Land Transport Authority announced that it has awarded a contract worth about S$250 million to French firm Alstom for the purchase of six North-East Line (NEL) and 11 new Circle Line (CCL) trains.
SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Monday (April 30) it has awarded a contract worth about S$250 million to French firm Alstom for the purchase of six North-East Line (NEL) and 11 new Circle Line (CCL) trains to cater for additional capacity when the North East Line Extension and Circle Line 6 begin operations in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
With the new trains, the existing NEL fleet will be expanded by 14 per cent, from 43 to 49 trains, and the existing CCL fleet will increase by 17 per cent, from 64 to 75 trains.
The trains will be manufactured and assembled in Alstom’s manufacturing facility in Barcelona, Spain.
The new NEL trains are slated to arrive in Singapore from 2020, and the CCL trains will be shipped a year later.
Chief Executive of the LTA Ngien Hoon Ping said there was only one bid for the tender, which was called in March last year.
All new trains will undergo testing and commissioning before they are put into service when the NEL and CCL extensions open, said the LTA.
The 1.6km NEL extension will see one more station — Punggol Coast — added to the line, whereas the 4.3km CCL will have three additional stations — Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward. The loop between HarbourFront and Marina Bay Stations will also be closed, when the extension is completed in 2025.
New trains to have predictive monitoring system
To enable a more robust maintenance regime, all the new trains will be equipped with condition monitoring systems to gather data from equipment on the trains.
This enables continuous monitoring of the health of the train equipment, and allows the operator to carry out predictive maintenance for the trains, said the LTA.
In addition, two of the new CCL three-car trains will each be fitted with an Automatic Track Inspection (ATI) System, which enables monitoring of the running rails, track equipment and sleepers while the trains are in operation.
The ATI System supplements existing track inspection activities for timely and more effective identification of rail and trackside components which require maintenance.
Most recently, Alstom also signed a contract with the LTA to supply the signalling system for the final phase of CCL last year. Alstom is also part of a European consortium bidding for KL-S'pore high-speed rail project.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan observed the signing of the contract on Monday.
