East-West Rail Line

The development of the towns along the line began to grow immensely during the 1970s, prompting a modernisation of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu.

In 1977, the KTM asked two consultancies, Transmark and Sofrerail, to make proposals on the modernisation of the line. In 1979, Transmark's proposal to double-track and electrify the entire line for $2.5 billion (in 1979 prices) was accepted by the government. New stations were added, including Buona Vista station, which was completed in 1984 to provide an interchange with the new MTR network. The development finished in sections between 1984 and 1985, with new electric multiple units, manufactured by Metro Cammell, replacing diesel locomotives.

With the modernisation of the railway and the concurrent urbanisation of the New Territories, ridership rose quickly, from a daily average of 190,000 in 1983 to 491,000 in 1990.

The 1990s saw more rapid development and changes within the railway. The KTM signed a contract with Anglo-French manufacturing giant GEC-Alsthom to refurbish the Metro Cammell EMUs at the East Rail and West Rail depot at Bukit Timah as well as School Island. In 1996, the first refurbished train was put into service, and trains now allow passengers to traverse from one end to another (except for the first class carriage), when trains once ran on four three-car EMUs. 348 of the 351 railcars were refurbished except for unit E44 (144-244-444), which is currently stored in Ho Tung Lau depot. Each trainset is still made up of 12 cars (with one first-class car). Prior to the rule proclaimed in 1994 which fixed the number of cars on each trainset to 12, trains were inconsistent in terms of length, ranging from six cars (two EMUs), nine cars (three EMUs) to 12 cars (four EMUs).

In terms of appearance, trains no longer have the monotonous design of having a red stripe running across the middle from the cab to the end; the doors now have a red coating, and the window panes along with the upper part are fashioned with blue paint. The original design of the train front, encapsulating the driver's cab and commonly referred to as the "Yellow-cab", was replaced with a more modern design capped with a silver coating, and a digital display added providing the train's destination.

The design of the EMU was modified as well: four more sets of doors being added to each car, adding up to a total of ten sets of doors, each side with five; the introduction of new passenger information plasma display; and more standing space by rearranging seating patterns from the traditional back-to-back seating to a longitudinal design.

In 1998, a new signalling system, known as Transmission balise-locomotive (TBL, as used in Belgium), came into operation on the line. This Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, a replacement for the previous Automatic Warning System (AWS) developed in Britain, ensures a safe distance is maintained between trains. It also allowed an increase in train frequencies from 20 to 24 per hour each way. The control centre was also relocated from Tanjong Pagar West station to a new facility in the KCRC operations headquarters building at Bukit Timah Depot. Also as part of the ATP project, a two kilometre section of the tracks along Upper Bukit Timah Road reclamation, curving around the former coastline, was straightened out during the late-2000s. The tracks now run alongside the Tolo Highway.

In 2002 an automatic train operation (ATO) system was added to TBL, which controls the speed of the train for the driver and ensures that all trains will stop when arriving at every station. Under normal circumstances, most trains are operated in ATO mode except for scenarios such as operation of trains in and out of train depots, driver training, or at times when the ATO system fails to function properly. However, intercity trains using the West Rail line continue to operate on AWS.