Napier MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Thomson–East Coast line (TEL). Located in

Tanglin Tanglin is a planning area located within the Central Region of Singapore. Tanglin is located west of Newton, Orchard, River Valley and Singapore River, south of Novena, east of Bukit Timah, northeast of Queenstown and north of Bukit Merah. ...

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, bor ...

, the station is at the junction of Napier Road, Holland Road and Cluny Road. The two exits of the station serve

Singapore Botanic Gardens The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a -year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. T ...

and

Gleneagles Hospital Gleneagles Hospital is a private hospital on Napier Road, Singapore next to Napier MRT station. It provides medical and surgical services. It is part of Parkway Pantai, itself a subsidiary of the Malaysian–Singaporean private healthcare group ...

, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the surrounding embassies. First announced in August 2012 as part of the Thomson line (TSL), the station was constructed as part of TEL Phase 3 (TEL 3) with the merger of the TSL and the Eastern Region line. The station opened on 13 November 2022. Fully designed by the Land Transport Authority, the station features an Art-in-Transit ''Botanical Art'' by the

National Parks Board The National Parks Board (NParks) is a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. History In November 1989, Minister of National Development, S. Dhanabalan, presented the National Parks Bill ...

History

The station was first announced on 29 August 2012 as part of the Thomson line (TSL). Contract T217 for the design and construction of Napier Station and associated tunnels was awarded to Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. (Singapore Branch) at S$189 million (US$ million) in November 2013. Construction started in 2014, with an expected completion date of 2021. On 15 August 2014, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that the TSL would merge with the Eastern Region line to form the Thomson–East Coast line (TEL). Napier station, part of the proposed line, would be constructed as part of TEL 3, consisting of 13 stations between Mount Pleasant and

Gardens by the Bay The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden (in Marina South), Bay East Garden (in Marina East) and Ba ...

. With restrictions imposed on construction due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the TEL3 completion date was pushed by one year to 2022. On 9 March 2022, Transport Minister S Iswaran announced in Parliament that TEL 3 would open in the second half of that year. As confirmed during a visit by Iswaran at the and stations on 7 October 2022, the station began operations on 13 November.

Description

Napier station serves the TEL and is between the Stevens and Orchard Boulevard stations. The official station code is TE12. Being part of the TEL, the station is 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 ...

. Train frequencies on the TEL range from 5 to 6 minutes. The station is located at the junction of Napier Road and Cluny Road. Surrounding landmarks include:

, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australian High Commission, British High Commission,

United States Embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

, INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation and the

. Due to the site's space constraints, the station has a stacked side platform layout. To reflect its proximity to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the station features a garden wall of indoor plants. The curvilinear ceiling at the columnless upper platform is inspired by a folding leaf. This curved motif is echoed on the walls of the lower platform. The station is fully designed by the LTA. An Art-in-Transit artwork ''Botanical Art'' by the

depicts a tapestry of various species of plants, including gingers, orchids and legumes. The artwork is adapted from the drawings by the de Alwis brothers, who were botanical artists commissioned to help

Henry Nicholas Ridley Henry Nicholas Ridley CMG (1911), MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S. (10 December 1855 – 24 October 1956) was an English botanist, geologist and naturalist who lived much of his life in Singapore. He was instrumental in promoting rubber trees i ...

, the then Director of the Gardens from 1888 to 1912. Besides educating the public on plants, the artwork is intended to show that plants can be "aesthetically pleasing" pieces of natural art.

References

External links

* Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations Railway stations in Singapore opened in 2022 {{Singapore-MRT-stub