East West MRT Line

The East West Line (EWL) is the second Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently 57.2 km long with 35 stations, including four more to be constructed by 2016, known as Tuas West Extension (TWE), making it the longest MRT line in Singapore. It takes about 63 minutes to travel from one end to the other. The line is coloured  green  on MRT system maps.

As its name implies, the line connects central Singapore to both eastern and western parts of the island, with an additional branch to Changi Airport from Tanah Merah. Cross-platform interchange with the North South Line is provided at Jurong East, City Hall and Raffles Place, while transfer to the North East Line at Outram Park is possible via a linkway. Transfer to the Circle Line is also possible at Paya Lebar and Buona Vista via underpass and linkway. The East West Line interchanges with the Downtown Line at Bugis and will interchange with a future extension of the Downtown Line at Tampines and Expo.

The Tuas West Extension (TWE), a westward four-station extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon, is currently under construction.

Initial system

 * 12 December 1987: City Hall – Outram Park
 * 12 March 1988: Outram Park – Clementi
 * 5 November 1988: Clementi – Lakeside
 * 4 November 1989: City Hall – Tanah Merah (start of the separation of the North South Line from the East West Line)
 * 16 December 1989: Tanah Merah – Pasir Ris
 * 10 March 1990: Jurong East – Choa Chu Kang (initially operated as the Choa Chu Kang branch of the East West Line, became part of the North South Line on 10 February 1996 upon completion of the Woodlands Extension)
 * 6 July 1990: Lakeside – Boon Lay

Second phase of development

 * 10 January 2001: Tanah Merah – Expo
 * 18 October 2001: Dover (Station added on operational line)
 * 8 February 2002: Expo – Changi Airport

Boon Lay Extension (BLE)
Operational and running through Boon Lay to Joo Koon.
 * 28 February 2009: Boon Lay – Joo Koon

Tuas West Extension (TWE)
On 11 January 2011, the Tuas West Extension was announced. It is an extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon to Tuas Link. The stations — Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link — will extend MRT connectivity to the Tuas area and is expected to serve more than 100,000 commuters daily.

When completed in 2016, the Tuas West Extension will be an extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon, consisting of a 7.5km long twin-tracked MRT viaduct, four aboveground stations and a depot. The MRT viaduct is also integrated with part of a 4.8 km long road viaduct along Pioneer Road, which will increase the road capacity to cope with anticipated increase in traffic. A 26-hectare depot will also be built to provide stabling and maintenance facilities for the additional trains that will be bought for the extension and to cater for future expansion of the line.

On 4 May 2012, the Land Transport Authority marked the start of construction of the Tuas West Extension with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future Tuas Link station.

Half-height platform screen door installations
There were calls for platform screen doors to be installed at above-ground stations after several incidents in which passengers were killed by oncoming trains when they fell onto the railway tracks at above-ground stations. Underground stations already featured the doors since 1987. The authorities initially rejected the proposal by casting doubts over functionality and concerns about the high installation costs, but made an about-turn when the government announced plans to install half-height platform screen doors on the above-ground stations in January 2008, citing lower costs due to it becoming a more common feature worldwide. They were first installed at Jurong East, Pasir Ris and Yishun stations in 2009 as trial runs.

By 14 March 2012, all above-ground stations have been retrofitted with the doors and are operational.

Stations
SMRT used to operate the branch sector of Tanah Merah to Changi Airport as a through line from Boon Lay from 18 November 2001 until 22 July 2003, when it was replaced with a shuttle service.

Similarly to the preceding Circle and Downtown MRT Lines announced earlier, the four stations along the Tuas West Extension were open for public consultation from 16 December 2011 to 15 January 2012. The finalised station names were announced on 13 April 2012.

Rolling stock
Four batches of rolling stock are in service on the line, i.e., the C151s, the C651s, the C751Bs and the C151As. These trains operate from the two depots along the line, the Ulu Pandan Depot near Jurong East and the Changi Depot after Tanah Merah.

Additional information

 * Lunchtime Xpress services operate on weekdays from noon to 2 pm (excluding public holidays) between Outram Park and Aljunied to cater for greater demand on this stretch.