North of Bukit Panjang

And a trip to the future, and another to the past…

A common question some people have asked me is:

Why does the Downtown line end at Bukit Panjang, and why doesn’t it go further north to Woodlands/Kranji/whatever?

This is one thing that’s always interested me. After all, I live in the area. So we’ll look at it today.

Back in the old days

In 2001, the Urban Redevelopment Authority prepared one of many Concept Plans, which show the Government’s plans for future urban development. In this Concept Plan, the then-Bukit Timah LRT was shown to go all the way to Sungei Kadut, where a provision for a future interchange station had been left along the North-South line.

Let’s sidetrack for a while to explain the definition of “LRT”. According to Wikipedia, an LRT is a railway that uses smaller or shorter rolling stock than a regular heavy rail system. In Singapore we use them for smaller-scale intra-town systems, but just up in Malaysia it’s very different, where the Ampang, Sri Petaling, and Kelana Jaya LRT systems easily cross KL on a scale bigger than even our MRT, and are only called LRT systems by virtue of their smaller trainsets.

So in the 2001 Concept Plan, what we know now as the Circle and Downtown MRT lines started out as LRT systems, and one legacy of this is that they still run (rather cramped) three-car trains.

Plans change

In the case of Sungei Kadut, it was planned that the current industrial sites would move out, replaced with a new town along the ilk of Sengkang, Punggol, and now Tengah. This new town would thus require transport links, and the Bukit Timah line was sent there, to augment the North-South line.

However, somewhere down the road, the decision makers changed their plans for Sungei Kadut industrial estate, and allowed the current industrial uses to stay there. In fact, if you pass the area while on the NSL, you’ll easily see some new industrial buildings under construction.

Thus, as these industrial services are very easily accessible by bus from Choa Chu Kang, Yew Tee, and Bukit Panjang station, the fate of Sungei Kadut station hangs in the balance. It may be built, maybe solely on the North-South line, maybe as an interchange, or maybe not at all.

With the uncertainty over what’s going to happen to development in the northwest, it was decided to just leave the line short at Bukit Panjang.

What next?

The section of track between Bukit Panjang station and the depot along Woodlands Road is intentionally designed to allow for future expansion, through a junction provision located roughly near the KJE/Woodlands Road junction.

While hard to describe (and even harder to see by virtue of being underground) I can say that it looks similar to the EWL outside Tuas Link station. A pair of tunnels lead to a concrete wall, with a set of track switches in front of it to allow access to the depot tracks. Any future expansion will connect to this concrete wall.

But where can the line extend to? There are three existing stations north of Bukit Panjang — Choa Chu Kang, Yew Tee, and Kranji.

Choa Chu Kang station, as a regional hub that will be served by the future Jurong Region Line in addition to the North-South line, could be said to be the obvious choice. It would provide connectivity for Tengah residents to the Downtown Line area, as well as an alternative route to the city so that one does not need to go through Jurong East station.

However, to get there from Bukit Panjang, there is already the Bukit Panjang LRT. Furthermore, to run the line from the provisions, a sharp turn would need to be made under the elevated expressway, and then running under the KJE and Choa Chu Kang Park to the north side of CCK Station.

As for Yew Tee, it’s one of the shorter proposals — simply run up Woodlands Road, past the depot, then turn onto CCK North 6. However, a lack of available land in the station area means that either inconvenience will have to be caused to nearby residents, or construction costs may be driven up because of the need to use more careful and less disruptive methods of building.

Kranji is one of the furthest proposals. To get to Kranji, nearly 5km of line will have to be built, albeit through a relatively underdeveloped area. Unlike the other two ideas, where only one interchange has to be built, some extra stations have to be built to serve areas enroute as well — maybe one near Mandai Estate and another near the Kranji War Memorial.

Why not Woodlands?

Continuing on from Kranji, another section of track will have to be built between Kranji and Woodlands Central (the area around Causeway Point). This would have to follow the NSL, creating a large duplication of railway in a community that may or may not need it.

However, going back to the 2001 Concept Plan, it shows the Bukit Timah line continuing on from Sungei Kadut, to Woodlands Centre near the Woodlands Checkpoint, and then interchanging with the Thomson Line and upcoming MRT link to Johor, at Woodlands North station. This could be a possible option if the Kranji extension idea is taken.

Alternatively, the DTL can be left as is, and the North Shore line (which again appears in the 2001 Concept Plan, but not after, although part of it is planned to be built under the Cross Island Line project) can take up the slack of connecting Bukit Panjang to the North South Line.

—

Hope you’ve learnt something today, and comments welcome.