Chinatown MRT Station

Chinatown MRT Station (NE4/DT19) is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North East Line and the Downtown Line in Singapore. On the North East Line, it lies between the Outram Park and Clarke Quay MRT stations and between Telok Ayer and Fort Canning MRT stations on the Downtown Line. It is directly below and serves the district of Chinatown. The construction of the station was considered an engineering achievement, due to the busy traffic on the roads above and a number of nearby historical buildings that had to be preserved during the construction.

This station serves as the southern terminus of the Downtown Line from 22 December 2013 till 2017, where it would be replaced by Expo as the third phase of the line opens.

North East Line
There are Chinese calligraphy paintings in the station titled, "The Phoenix’s-Eye Domain" telling the significance of Chinatown. It is painted by renowned Singapore artist Tan Swie Hian.

Downtown Line
Artwork titled, "Flying Colours" by Cheo Chai Hiang illustrate hanging clothes on poles outside windows, delivering the illusion towards commuters passing by that the clothes are flying in the wind.

History
Provisions were made during the initial construction of this station for connection with future lines, which will serve developments in the New Downtown area, especially the integrated resort. The station will be an interchange with Stage 1 of the future Downtown Line, with the connecting station and tracks built above and perpendicular to the current station, beneath Cross Street. A new entrance and exit structure will be built near Hong Lim Complex as part of the Downtown Line station addition. Construction for the Downtown Line station commenced on 12 February 2008.

Before the station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Farrer Park, Serangoon and Hougang stations.

Construction
This station is said to be the most challenging station to build on the North-East line, due to the large number of buildings above ground, most with reinforced concrete or timber piles and all in marine clay. Another feat was that they had to preserve Garden Bridge, a large overhead bridge on bore piles, while building the station below. The tidal Eu Tong Sen canal was also diverted into four two-meter diameter steel pipes slung under the temporary traffic decks (two on each side). Rigorous safety precautions ensured there were no fatal accidents during the construction.

Station layout
The main entrance and exit of the station is situated in the middle of Pagoda Street within the heart of Chinatown, which is now closed to all automobiles but remains open to pedestrians and manual vehicles such as trishaws. One could note that the modern architecture of the station entrance could provide an uneasy contrast to the Victorian era shophouses surrounding it, although some may like the cultural fusion.