The Bukit Panjang LRT line (BPLRT) is a
automated guideway transit
An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...
line in
Bukit Panjang,
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 ...
. The BPLRT is the only
LRT line operated by
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 ...
. As the name suggests, it serves 13 stations in the neighbourhood of
Bukit Panjang and
Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang, alternatively spelt as Chua Chu Kang and often abbreviated as CCK, is a planning area and residential town located at the north-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. The town shares borders with Sungei Kadut to t ...
.
The line is the first LRT line in Singapore and was opened on 6 November 1999 by
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
Tony Tan
Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. He did not seek for a second term as president in 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. ...
. It is a fully elevated and automated
people mover system. The line uses
Innovia APM 100
The Innovia APM 100 (formerly known as the CX-100) is an automated people mover (APM) rolling stock first developed by Westinghouse (later Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation, and now Alstom), intended mainly for airport connections and light ...
C801 and
C801A rolling stock supplied by
Bombardier, running in a two-car formation. The line is infamous for its frequent breakdowns and plans have been made to overhaul the system.
History
The idea of Bukit Panjang LRT was first pitched in 1991 before the government announced in 1994 that it would pilot the system there. Two years later, construction began for the Bukit Panjang LRT, along which a few changes were distinguished from the MRT lines:
*It became the first line in Singapore with a fully automated train with no drivers (driverless trains would later become a prominent feature starting from the
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 no ...
in 2003)
*There are 13 stations, a loop will be formed between stations for
Bukit Panjang
*There was an integrated development at the
Ten Mile Junction, comprising a station, depot and shopping centre. The station was decommissioned in 2019.
The LRT was planned to run above ground to avoid the road safety issues of trams, and to avoid obstructing the
KTM
KTM AG (Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, formerly KTM Sportmotorcycle AG) is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and sports car manufacturer owned by Pierer Mobility AG and the Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto. It was formed in 1992 but traces ...
railway tracks, according to Low Seow Chay. Recalling "terrible" traffic jams at the junction of Woodlands Road and Choa Chu Kang Road during the early 90s, he explained: "The Bukit Panjang residents had trouble accessing the Choa Chu Kang MRT station and bus interchange including towards the city due to the poor traffic flow." The KJE was opened in 1994, diverting most of the heavy traffic and solving the problem.
In 1994, Transport Minister
Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan ( zh, s=马宝山, p=Mǎ Bǎoshān; born 12 September 1948) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Leader of the House between 2007 and 2011, Minister for National Development between 1999 and 2011, Minister for the Envir ...
, told Parliament of the need for "efficient and affordable" public transport, and that the potential of LRT as an internal feeder service was being studied. There are other intentions of the LRT to replace all the feeder buses. Today, residents of Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang have LRT and feeder bus services.
The project, which was contracted to
Adtranz,
Keppel Corporation and
Gammon Construction
Gammon Construction Limited is a Hong Kong construction and engineering contractor headquartered in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong. In addition to local construction projects, it also involved in construction and engineering various projects in China and ...
, was completed on 6 November 1999.
On 5 August 1997, 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 ...
awarded
SMRT a license to operate the LRT due to its experience with the MRT system.
On 10 December 2010, the Ten Mile Junction LRT Station closed due to retrofitting of the station, and reopened on 30 December 2011. However, on 13 January 2019, the LRT station became the first-ever operational train station in Singapore to be permanently closed together with LRT Service C, which ran from Ten Mile Junction LRT station to loop via Senja would ceased operations due to low demand.
Reliability and controversy
The Bukit Panjang LRT has been beset by reliability issues since its inception, which was attributed to the difficult terrain and mature state of the town, in contrast to other developing towns in Singapore.
Notable incidents include a collision between two trains on 19 November 2000 which injured five passengers barely a year after its opening, constant power glitches and maintenance failures,
and an incident of a train skipping stations completely. The line has also suffered fatalities when passengers accessed the tracks without authorization, as its station lacked
platform screen doors
Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail syste ...
. In 2010, a LRT technician died of injuries sustained after being hit by a train at
Phoenix station; he had been checking the power rail between Phoenix and Bukit Panjang stations.
On the late morning of 28 July 2016, a train departed Segar on Service B, but sped past Jelapang, Senja and Bukit Panjang stations. Passengers said that the
emergency stop button did not function and there was no response on the
emergency phone
An emergency telephone is a telephone, phone specifically provided for making calls to emergency services and is most often found in a place of special danger or where it is likely that there will be a need to make emergency calls. It is also so ...
. The train finally stopped before Phoenix station after another passenger managed to call a number displayed in the train. Subsequent investigations showed that a faulty antenna on the train had resulted in the stations not being able to detect and stop the train accordingly. The emergency stop button was also designed to only function when the train was at a station and not in travel.
On 12 September 2017, speaking at an event commemorating the completion of a power-rail upgrading project for the North South and East West MRT lines, Transport Minister
Khaw Boon Wan suggested that the Bukit Panjang LRT had been built as an "afterthought" due to "political pressure". Khaw said that the trains were designed in a "masochistic" manner, forcing commuters to go up and down with the twists and turns. He also compared the ride to a roller coaster, saying that it caused him dizziness. According to one commentator, his comment implies that his predecessor
Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan ( zh, s=马宝山, p=Mǎ Bǎoshān; born 12 September 1948) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Leader of the House between 2007 and 2011, Minister for National Development between 1999 and 2011, Minister for the Envir ...
erred in approving the LRT system and trivialises the work and contribution of railway engineers. Most critically, the commentator implied that the PAP government had succumbed to pressure and spent hundreds of millions of dollars without serious consideration and robust planning.
Future plans
In 2016, SMRT and LTA announced plans to completely overhaul the line as the system approached its designated lifespan of 20 years, with the other factor being the aging CX-100 train cars which was only being used in two transit systems by then, the other being
Miami MetroMover. On 8 March 2017, it was announced that the system's power supply, signalling, rolling stock, track, stations, new signalling system and upgrading would be upgraded. The authority ruled out scrapping the entire system or changing to automated guided vehicles drawn on self-power as it would cause major traffic congestion. On 3 October 2017, a tender for the revamp was called. To improve service reliability in the interim period, SMRT begin operations at 7am, instead of 5.30am, on all Sundays from 12 November 2017 until the end of that year. In a statement on 5 November 2017, SMRT said that this allows for an additional 1.5 hours for maintenance to the existing two hours.
On 7 March 2018, the Land Transport Authority awarded the contract to
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
for $344 million on upgrading the system. This includes replacing the line's signalling system with the new Communications-Based Train Control system for a tighter headway between each trains and thus, reducing waiting time. 19 first-generation trains will be replaced while 13 second-generation trains will be refurbished. The upgrade is slated to be completed by 2024.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan had said that the authority was considering shutting down the system for a few years to complete the overhaul. He told reporters at a press briefing: "If we want to do serious upgrading — essentially to close it down so that we can re-do the whole tracks and so on, so that we don’t have these ups and downs. And we’re evaluating that proposition". This was not done as SMRT decided to proceed with an alternative plan to reduce operating hours instead during the system renewal. Ten Mile Junction station was also closed due to low demand, with the station reused as a testing station for the new C801Bs trains.
Services
There are two services on the line: A and B , both of which terminate at
Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang, alternatively spelt as Chua Chu Kang and often abbreviated as CCK, is a planning area and residential town located at the north-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. The town shares borders with Sungei Kadut to t ...
.
Stations
All stations, except
Choa Chu Kang
Choa Chu Kang, alternatively spelt as Chua Chu Kang and often abbreviated as CCK, is a planning area and residential town located at the north-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. The town shares borders with Sungei Kadut to t ...
, have two facing side platforms. Choa Chu Kang has an
island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
, similar to most
Singapore MRT
The Mass Rapid Transit system, locally known by the initialism MRT, is a rapid transit system in Singapore and the island country's principal mode of railway transportation. The system commenced operations in November 1987 after two decades of ...
stations. All the stations on the LRT have half-height platform barriers, installed between 2016 and 2017. Choa Chu Kang station also has two additional platforms and a new set of fare gates to ease crowding during peak hours.
Legend
List
Rolling stock
The Bukit Panjang LRT operates on the
Bombardier Innovia APM 100
The Innovia APM 100 (formerly known as the CX-100) is an automated people mover (APM) rolling stock first developed by Westinghouse (later Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation, and now Alstom), intended mainly for airport connections and light ...
rolling stock, similar to the ones used by the
Changi Airport Skytrain
The Changi Airport Skytrain is an automated people mover (APM) that connects Terminals 1, 2 and 3 at Singapore Changi Airport. Opened in 1990, it was the first driverless and automated system of its kind in South East Asia. The Changi Airport Sk ...
until 2006. An initial 19 trainsets were delivered in 1999 under
C801, which bear a turquoise livery. An additional 13 trainsets were delivered in 2014 under
C801A, bearing SMRT's pixel livery and a slightly different exterior design. Each unit is long.
These trains, also known as automated people movers, are rubber-tyred for minimised operating noise within built-up areas and guided by a central guideway which also contains a power rail. They operate in both single-car and double-car arrangements, paired with a similar model (C801 and C801A trainsets are not cross-coupled).
19 Bombardier Innovia APM 300 trains have been procured under
C801B as part of the Bukit Panjang LRT Overhaul. These trains will be equipped with Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling system and will replace the first generation
C801 trains.
Train formation
Between 1999 - 2015, the trains are in one-car (M) formation throughout the day. Two-car formations are only operated during weekday peak hours to accommodate increased demand prior to an introduction of
C801A trains in 2014. It used to operate 2-cars only on Service B during Weekday morning peak while majority on Service A during Weekday evening peak.
Between 2015 till 2019, the majority of trains are in two-car (M-M) formations. Two-car formations are no longer limited to peak hours only and are now used at all times. This is due to the increase in ridership and the large number of apartments around Bukit Panjang. The units are limited to a two-car train formation because of station length.
Since 2019 till today, all of the trains are running in two-car (M-M) formations throughout the day.
Coupling is usually done in
Ten Mile Junction Depot
Ten Mile Junction Depot is a depot for LRT trains serving the Bukit Panjang LRT in Singapore. It is integrated with the Junction 10 shopping mall and The Tennery condominium, with the depot facilities and Operations Control Centre located at t ...
and the trains are coupled with the same car type: C801+C801 or C801A+C801A. Occasionally units are mixed for reasons such as rescue operations or testing.
Train control
The line is equipped with Bombardier's CITYFLO 550
fixed block signalling system for
automatic train control (ATC) under
automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 4 (UTO).
The subsystems consist of
Automatic train protection
Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...
(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.
When the
Innovia APM 300R C801B enters service, the line will be upgraded to use Bombardier's
CITYFLO 650 moving block
communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling system.
References
External links
Bukit Panjang LRT line
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukit Panjang LRT line
1999 establishments in Singapore
Bukit Panjang
Choa Chu Kang
Innovia people movers
Light Rail Transit (Singapore) lines
Railway lines opened in 1999
Automated guideway transit