Clementi MRT Station

Clementi MRT Station (EW23) is an above-ground MRT station in the west of Singapore. It is part of the East West Line. Clementi MRT Station is heavily used by commuters who live in Clementi itself or further west to go to work. It is also used by students in the National University of Singapore, Nan Hua High School and other schools around Clementi.

The tracks between this station and Jurong East is the longest between any two stations on the East West Line and also the longest between any MRT interchanges in Singapore. It takes four minutes for trains to travel between these two stations. The crowd at this station during peak hours also rivals City Hall.

History
One of the older MRT stations in Singapore, Clementi was opened in 1988. The station is painted light blue, and with recent renovations a lift has been added for the benefit of commuters. The station and nearby track follows Commonwealth Avenue West, as do the Dover, Buona Vista, Commonwealth and Queenstown stations. Looking to the southwest one can see Clementi Central, with what was previously Commonwealth theatre, a McDonald's, and the bus interchange. At the northeast there is a connecting bridge to the nearby housing estate.

Train collision
On 5 August 1993, at around 7.53 am, two trains collided in the station. It appeared that one train had stopped at the station for longer than usual after experiencing a technical fault, and then a second westward train hit the first. 156 commuters were injured, many of whom were on their way to work. Eight were admitted to three hospitals, while the rest received outpatient treatment.

A four-member independent panel was subsequently formed by SMRT to conduct an inquiry into the accident. The panel was chaired by Chua Koon Hoe, deputy director-general of the Public Works Department of Singapore, with the members Chang Meng Teng, deputy chairman of the Public Transport Council, and Dr. Natarajan Varaprasad, principal of Temasek Polytechnic. Low Tien Sio, SMRTC's general manager (project administration) served as the secretary.

The results of the inquiry were announced by the SMRTC on 19 October 1993. Shortly after the accident The Straits Times had reported that an oil spill on the tracks was responsible for the second train's inability to brake in time. Some 50 litres of oil had spilled from a locomotive doing maintenance work on the track in the pre-dawn hours of 5 August. SMRT staff had been alerted to the spill and had dispatched a cleaning crew to the neighbouring Buona Vista, but approval to access the tracks was delayed. Already ten trains had reported difficulty braking on the track that morning. The 11th train had to use its emergency brakes upon reaching Clementi station, and while it was waiting for the brakes to be recharged so that it could move off again, the 12th approached the station and could not brake in time to avoid hitting the 11th train.

The Communications Minister at that time, Mah Bow Tan, said that as the SMRT staff followed procedures and none were found to be negligent, so no staff would be punished. However SMRT promised to look into the problem of oil spillage from maintenance locomotives by replacing the hoses and oil seals on all locomotives, checking all locomotives for leaks upon their return to depots, and assigning a station master to inspect tracks for oil. Procedures were also amended so that trains would not move off from stations preceding the spill until it had been cleaned up.

High volume, low speed (HVLS) fans
Station installed with MJ Air Tech High Volume, Low Speed (HVLS) Pro-Jet fans and commenced operations on 3 October 2012.

Platform screen doors
As with most of the stations along the East West Line, it was initially built without platform screen doors to prevent commuters from falling onto the train tracks. After several successful test at Jurong East, Yishun and Pasir Ris and eventually, installation of the half-height screen doors started on 19 April 2010 and operations commenced on 16 August 2010. It was the 4th above-ground station to have Half-Height Platform Screen Doors installed and in operational with Bukit Gombak.

New entrances
Together with Queenstown and Commonwealth stations, this station will see the construction of an additional pedestrian link bridge linking the station to two new exits, one on each side of the road. The exits will be equipped with fare gates and ticketing machines. Construction will start mid-2012 and expected to end by mid-2015.