The Alstom Metropolis C851E is the upcoming third generation

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

rolling stock to be introduced on the existing North East and

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

lines of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, manufactured by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

under Contract 851E. It consists of six

North East line The North East MRT line (NEL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, it is the shortest MRT line at . The line runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the n ...

trains and 23 Circle line trains. The trains will be manufactured and assembled in Alstom's manufacturing facility in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and progressively shipped to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

from 2021 for the NEL and 2022 for the CCL. The contract, valued at S$249,854,305.00, was awarded by the

Land Transport Authority The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Government of Singapore. History Incorporation of Land Transport Authority Land Transport Authority (LTA) was established on 1 September 1995, f ...

during a ceremony held at

Sengkang Depot Sengkang Depot is a train depot in Sengkang, Singapore operated by SBS Transit. It is the first co-location of facilities for both the Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (Singapore), Light Rail Transit ...

. Alstom is the sole bidder for this contract. An additional 12 3-car trains will be purchased for use on the Circle line, from 2024 onwards.

Tender

The tender for trains under the contract C851E was closed on 2 October 2017 with Alstom being the sole bidder for this contract. The LTA has shortlisted and the tender results was published. The contract 851E was awarded to the sole bidder Alstom at a cost of $250 million on 30 April 2018.

Overview

North East Line

The 6 new trains will supplement the existing C751A and

C751C The Alstom Metropolis C751C is the second generation of communication-based train control (CBTC) electric multiple unit rolling stock in operation on the North East line of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. 18 trainsets of 6 cars we ...

trains on the North East Line when the long extension from

Punggol Punggol, alternatively spelled as Ponggol, is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, new town situated on the Tanjong Punggol peninsula in the North-East Region, Singapore, North-East Region of Singapore. The to ...

to Punggol Coast opens in 2024. The first train set arrived in Singapore on 4 April 2021. The trains draw power from an overhead catenary. They are fully automated (ATO GoA 4) and do not require an attendant on board. Each 6-car train (Formation: DT–Mp–Mi–Mi–Mp–DT) comprises two Driving Trailer (DT) cars at each end, and four Motor Cars (Mp and Mi). The second and fifth cars of each train (Mp) are equipped with a pantograph.

Train formation

The configuration of an SBS Transit C851E in revenue service is DT-Mp-Mi+Mi-Mp-DT The car numbers of the trains range from 7x087 to 7x098, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a five-digit serial number by the rail operator SBS Transit. A complete six-car trainset consists of an identical twin set of one

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK and Ireland) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartm ...

(DT) and two motor cars (Mi & Mp) permanently coupled together, e.g. set 7087/7088 consists of carriages 71087, 72087, 73087, 73088, 72088 and 71088. *The first digit is always a 7. *The second digit identifies the car number, where the first car has a 1, the second has a 2 & the third has a 3. *The third digit is always a 0. *The fourth digit and fifth digit are the train identification numbers. A full length train of 6 cars have 2 different identification numbers e.g. 7087/7088 (normal coupling) or 7087/7098 (cross coupling). *

built sets 7087/7088-7097/7098.

Circle Line

The 23 new trains will supplement the existing C830 and

C830C The Alstom Metropolis C830C is the second generation of communication-based train control (CBTC) electric multiple unit rolling stock in operation on the Circle line of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. 24 trainsets of 3 cars were ma ...

trains on the Circle Line when the 4.3km long extension from

HarbourFront Harbourfront may refer to: * Harbourfront (Toronto), a neighbourhood in Toronto ** 509 Harbourfront, Toronto streetcar route **Harbourfront Centre, cultural organization on the waterfront of Toronto * HarbourFront (Singapore), waterfront site in Si ...

to Marina Bay opens in 2026. The first train set arrived in Singapore on 11 March 2022. The trains draw 750 V DC power from a bottom-contact third rail. They are fully automated (ATO GoA 4) and do not require an attendant on board. Each 3-car train (Formation: Mc1–Tc–Mc2) comprises two Motor Cars (Mc1 and Mc2) at each end, and an unpowered Trailer Car (Tc) in the middle.

Train formation

The configuration of an SMRT C851E in revenue service is Mc1-T-Mc2 The car numbers of the trains range from 865x to 887x, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a 4 digit serial number by the rail operator

SMRT Trains SMRT Trains Limited is a rail operator in Singapore and a wholly owned subsidiary of SMRT Corporation. After the privatisation of the MRT operations in 1995, it was originally named Singapore MRT Limited. On 31 December 2001, it was renamed to S ...

. A complete three-car trainset consists of one trailer (T) and two driving motor cars (Mc1 & Mc2) permanently coupled together, e.g. set 865 consists of carriages 8651, 8652, 8653. * The first digit is always an 8. * The second and third digits identify the set number. * The fourth digit identifies the car number, where the first car has a 1, the second has a 2 and the third has a 3. *

built sets 865-887.

Features

To enable a more robust maintenance regime, all the new trains are equipped with condition monitoring systems to gather data from equipment on the trains. This enables continuous monitoring of the health of the equipment and allows the operator to carry out

predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to estimate when maintenance should be performed. This approach promises cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maintenanc ...

for the trains. Contact shoe sensors on the new Circle Line trains enables the operator to react promptly and take necessary measures if any dislodgement is detected. In addition, two of the new Circle Line three-car trains are each 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.

References

{{Rail transport in Singapore Alstom multiple units Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) rolling stock 750 V DC multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units
Tender document