Downtown MRT Line

The Downtown Line (DTL) is the fifth Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. Stage 1 of the line opened on 22 December 2013, with Stages 2 and 3 due to open in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The line will connect the North-Western and Central-Eastern regions to the new downtown of Singapore.

The Downtown Line interchanges with the North East Line at Chinatown, with the East West Line at Bugis, and with the Circle Line at Bayfront and Promenade. Future extensions of the Downtown Line will interchange with the North East Line at Little India, with the North South Line at Newton, with the East West Line at Tampines and Expo, with the Circle Line at MacPherson and Botanic Gardens, and with the Bukit Panjang LRT at Bukit Panjang.

This line is the third in Singapore to be entirely underground (apart from the Gali Batu Depot). When fully completed, the line will be about 42 km long with 34 stations and will serve more than half a million commuters daily. It will also be the longest driverless rapid transit line in Singapore, surpassing the record set by the Circle Line. Travelling from one end to the other will take about 65 minutes. The line is coloured blue  in the rail map.

History
On 14 June 2005, the Land Transport Authority announced the Downtown Extension of the Circle Line to serve the Downtown at Marina Bay area, where an integrated resort (Marina Bay Sands) and Singapore's second botanical garden (Gardens by the Bay) was to be located. The 3.4-kilometre fully underground line was estimated to cost S$1.4 billion. Construction of the extension was slated to begin in 2007. During the construction of the North East Line at Chinatown station, platform provisions for the Downtown Extension were built to facilitate an interchange station.

A new depot, the Gali Batu Depot, is under construction at part of the former Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery off Woodlands Road to serve the line.

Stage 1


By April 2007, plans were finalized for the extension to connect Promenade with Bugis. The former Downtown Extension of the Circle Line was assimilated into the Downtown Line and was revamped as part of Stage 1, a 4.3-kilometre 6 station segment connecting Chinatown to Bugis stations. A new depot, the Gali Batu Depot, is under construction at part of the former Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery off Woodlands Road to serve the line.

Stage 2
Stage 2 of the Downtown Line was first conceptualized and announced as the Bukit Timah Line. It was supposedly a 20-kilometer line that would connect the new downtown with the Bukit Panjang, Upper Bukit Timah and Bukit Timah corridor, alleviating the heavy traffic travelling along the sector, but a full route was never released. Provisions were provided at Nicoll Highway station which would have seen the line terminating there and interchanging with the Circle Line.

However, the Nicoll Highway collapse and subsequent feasibility works deemed the old station unusable, with the new station being located in a different location. By July 2008, the Bukit Timah Line was announced to have been rerouted towards Promenade station and rebranded as Stage 2 of the Downtown Line. Now 16.6-kilometres long and consisting of twelve stations, including three interchange stations, it is scheduled to be completed by 2016. Construction for Stage 2 began on 3 July 2009 with a groundbreaking ceremony at Beauty World Station.

Stage 3
Stage 3 of the Downtown Line comprises of the northern segment of the original Eastern Region Line announced in 2001, a 40-kilometre rectangular loop that would have looped around the Jalan Besar and East Coast areas, intersecting the Circle Line and other current lines along the way and passing through Tampines, Bedok, Marine Parade, MacPherson and Kaki Bukit. The Eastern Region Line was however never built and repeatedly delayed. By 2010, it was announced that the northern segment of the original plan from Chinatown to Expo passing through the Jalan Besar area have been merged with the Downtown Line and their station locations and working names for Stage 3 were officially announced on 20 August 2010. In order to accommodate the construction of an additional station at Jalan Besar, the completion of the segment was pushed to 2017. The finalized names for the Stage 3 stations were announced on 19 August 2011.

2011 onwards
In August 2011, SBS Transit won the bid and was appointed to be the operator of the Downtown Line, under a new framework which would see the authority remaining the owner of the line. Final costs of building the line may reach an estimated S$20.7 billion, up more than 70% from an initial estimation of S$12 billion. In January 2013, plans for a southern extension which will run from Expo through the East Coast area, interchanging with the Eastern Region Line were announced for completion by 2025.

On 24 June 2013, work stopped on the King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee stations, after Alpine Bau GmbH, the previous main contractor, filed for insolvency on June 19. McConnell Dowell South East Asia (SEA) Private Limited and SK E&C (Singapore) was subsequently contracted to complete the work on the three stations. As a result of the delay, the completion of Downtown Line Stage 2 has been pushed back from December 2015 to the middle of 2016.

Stage 1 of the Downtown Line began service on 22 December 2013, with its official inauguration made on the day before by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

It has been announced that Downtown Line will be extended to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

Stations
Here are the following station locations for all three stages of the Downtown Line.

The Downtown Line's numbering scheme reserves station code "DT4" between Hillview (DT3) and Beauty World (DT5).

Rolling stock
The rolling stock consists of Bombardier MOVIA C951 cars, running in three-car formation. They will be stabled at Gali Batu Depot when it opens with Stage 2 of Downtown Line by 2016. For the period between the operation of Downtown Line Stage 1 and Downtown Line Stage 2, trains will be stabled at a maintenance facility that was built at Marina Bay as part of the Circle Line project. Kim Chuan Depot will house the Operations Control Centre for the Downtown Line until Gali Batu Depot is ready to be used.

On 12 October 2012, the first of 11 trains for the Downtown Line Stage 1 arrived at Jurong Port. It was transported to Kim Chuan Depot to undergo testing by LTA before it was handed over to SBS Transit. , Bombardier had delivered five of the 11 trains for Downtown Line Stage 1. LTA together with the operator, SBS Transit, conducted the necessary tests to ensure safety standards, functional performance and systems compatibility requirements were met before revenue service began on 22 December 2013.

Train control
The Downtown Line is equipped with a fully automatic communication-based train control system, using a digital radio system for communication between trains and the centralised control system. A fall-back signalling system, relying on conventional track-circuit occupancy detection, is included to ensure fully automatic operation and train protection independent of the radio system. Automatic platform screen doors provide safety for passengers, offering protection from arriving and departing trains.