West Coast
Is this a project that will really pay off?
Remember when there was a study of a potential extension of the JRL to West Coast being announced?
Nothing’s been heard about it in the past five years or so, and with the non-inclusion of this project in the latest Land Transport Masterplan one might be forgiven for thinking they’ve given up on it.
Then again, the JRL itself was announced by Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong in 2001, which means it’s going to be at least 25 years from initial announcement to actual completion of the line. It wouldn’t be surprising if the West Coast Extension was going to be an equally far-off project, with completion in 2040, or more likely to be beyond that.
What I can say, though, is that there is a very high chance that a lot of other things will happen first before we can even begin to talk about the JRL WCE. Transit purgatory is not entirely a thing here, but if there was any project that might be formally studied this much before ending up in transit purgatory, if not the North Coast Line first mooted in Concept Plan 2001, this is probably it.
Let the pieces fall
The first thing that needs to happen is what some people call the “JE8” station, as hinted by the JRL Construction Blog. Any future extension would need to pass through here. Not building this now, and only doing so as part of the CRL’s second phase (or maybe even later), might allow a solution similar to Sengkang and Punggol stations where the LRT platforms can be placed directly above the MRT platforms, making the transfer easier than other surface-underground stations. It may even be easier from a civil engineering perspective if the builders of the CRL tunnels don’t have to worry about supports for operational JRL viaducts above.
The URA Master Plan already shows something similar anyway. The constraints in which Pandan Reservoir station is placed, along with the extension of the line to run alongside the reservoir for quite a distance, could indicate a potential operating model similar to DTL3 Expo station at least for the first few years — unload at one platform, reverse in siding, load at the other platform.
So why do this instead of shifting the station down just a bit more to accommodate a proper crossover? I guess the simplest answer is that shifting the station down just outright precludes any more future extensions of the line, with there being insufficient turning radius even for the smaller JRL vehicles. Like at Expo, the temporary inconvenience posed by the siding may well be offset by the future flexibility provided by the new through tracks.
But eventually when JE8 is built, will it still have a similar arrangement, a regular terminal crossover, or something else? This will be interesting to see. Section 2.4.3.1 of LTA’s Civil Design Criteria states that diamond crossings are to be avoided except at terminal stations and within depots — DT14 Bugis is thus the only exception, though by a technicality it was a former terminal. This may be a bit of a stretch, but we can see if, once again, the door has to be left open.
Something out of nothing?
The second question to ask is whether the business case still exists for such an extension past the so-far confirmed JRL, and how well does it fit into our transport and urban planning concepts. This will not have clear answers, and the longer they drag their feet, the murkier the waters get.
Much ink has been spilled by various parties on the Greater Southern Waterfront and the many proposals on what to do with the land vacated by the ports once they move to Tuas. While the main trunk for these folks will be the post-CCL6 Circle Line with a majority of development centered around there, with most of the port land being in that vicinity, a case might be able to be made by some quarters on how such an extension can connect people in that area better to Jurong.
It may also help those living along West Coast Road, in addition to the western half of NUS, which could probably support a medium capacity line. Sure, there’s already enough buses to Clementi and Jurong East — and in the case of the former, providing just that bit more passengers to make it one of the busiest stations. The construction of just JE8 station alone could warrant a bus hub being placed there as well, allowing JE8 station to pick up a fair bit of the slack, but if one is going towards the city centre, the line may help.
However, a very unscientific Google Maps survey indicates that most of the route serves private housing, and for the few HDB precincts in the area, they are already well-placed to take bus 282 or 285 to Clementi where the CRL is also available anyway, reducing the utility of JE8 station to these people.
I think a lot of this depends on what developments look like along the line proper. Densification may call for higher-capacity options apart from bus lanes, but so long as West Coast remains the way it is, densification is not likely to happen, especially with land costs basically meaning the laws of supply and demand just don’t really apply in Singapore because it’s cheaper to buy from the government than to acquire existing property.
What might also stand on shaky ground is the concept of using this as a third reliever line to the west, much like how the DTL can play a role to relieve the EWL in certain situations. It may simply be too slow compared to even bus bridges along the AYE, and if the Circle Line section faces capacity issues just serving the area around itself and is unable to facilitate further connections at Haw Par Villa, it would be of little use as well.
Eye of the needle
The one last issue facing this line is probably the NUS area. Sure, it’s easy to plot a route from the tracks beyond Pandan Reservoir to NUS, but then what after that? The plan announced back then was to go to Haw Par Villa, but getting there from the Kent Ridge bus terminal (only place where they could put a station in the desired part of NUS territory) is going to be a choice of the less bad option.
The first probably involves land acquisition to allow the JRL viaduct to rejoin West Coast Highway after stopping at NUS, then through to Haw Par Villa from there. It will be ugly, and it will not be cheap. The second option is probably to tunnel under NUS — also not cheap, also potentially ugly, and if there are any of NUS’ research facilities along the way requiring special technical considerations, it may pose further complications.
However, if the latter is done, further stations can be considered at Science Park II and/or Prince George’s Park. These may also be convenient for Science Park workers, albeit the place being used as a testbed for self driving vehicles may result in better first and last mile connections to existing train stations. Prince George’s Park is also a bit iffy, especially if a walkway or additional exit of some form from Kent Ridge station may deliver similar benefit for less cost.
That said, while the faculties on the west side of NUS are large enough to perhaps justify an elevated light metro station of their own, it might not if an underground station has to be built. It also misses UTown, so it’s unlikely to drive intra-NUS trips much like how intra-NTU trips are possible on the JRL’s NTU branch.
Perhaps some of the justifications might change if it becomes possible to extend this branch down to Science Park I, or at a stretch, perhaps further on to the end of Jalan Bukit Merah where it can interchange with other forms of transportation.
Other tools for the job?
Speaking of other forms of transportation, while it can also be considered on how the JRL can also have an additional station or two within the Pasir Panjang finger area (that rectangular plot of land jutting out from the shore), providing similar benefit albeit with somewhat higher travel time due to the slower JRL trains, and the trains pass Haw Par Villa as well.
In a oddly twisted and unintuitive way, doing nothing might actually be a better idea in some ways — leave the existing public transport system largely untouched. The issue here is a catch-22 — if there were enough potential users to justify an MRT line, they risk placing additional pressure on the CCL in order to get anywhere meaningful, and if there weren’t, why build it anyway?
This might not appear obvious, especially with the section of CCL in question (Kent Ridge to Harbourfront) being one of the quietest today. But forget the GSW, I think CCL6 might already change the calculus somewhat by providing some better connections than that offered by the NEL. And there may only be so much the CCL can do — the excess capacity may be spoken for on the north half of the Circle today, but when enough of those move to the CRL, what happens?
Tram advocates, and I know there are several of you here, might be happy when I consider that with all the drawbacks of such a long JRL extension, it may be more worthwhile to consider using trams, or at least bus priority measures to speed up bus speeds within the area. Preserving existing connections, and exploring ways to improve them, would probably work better than whatever new connections this rail development provides.
It’s thus understandable why the West Coast extension is unlikely within the next 20 years, and I won’t be surprised if it was outright cancelled. After all, we have far more urgent priorities.
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