Singapore awards US$ 918 million rail contracts

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a string of contracts worth SG$ 1.15 billion (US$ 918 million) for the expansion of the city state’s underground rail network.

The contracts are for the new Thompson Line, a planned 30 km driverless metro line with 22 stations. It will run north to south through the city from Woodlands through the central business district area and to Marina Bay.

The latest awards for the project include a SG$ 207 million (US$ 165 million) contract for the construction of Mt Pleasant station and its associated tunnels. This contract was won by a consortium consisting of Taiwanese contractor RSEA Engineering Corporation, together with Singapore-based contractors Eng Lee Engineering and Wai Fong Construction.

A further SG$ 441 million (US$ 351 million) contract was awarded to South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & Construction to build Stevens station and its associated tunnels. Stevens Station will be an interchange connecting the Thomson Line with the existing Downtown Line.

And a SG$ 222 million (US$ 177 million) contract for the construction of Maxwell station was won by Singapore-based Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure.

Construction for all three stations is scheduled to start the second quarter of 2014, with completion timetabled for 2021. Meanwhile, further electrical and mechanical contracts totalling SG$ 283 million (US$ 225 million) for the line’s signalling and communications signalling were also awarded.

The SG$ 18 billion (US$ 14.3 billion) Thompson line will open in three phases – the first stretch, including three stations, is set to open in 2019; while the second stretch with six more stations will open in 2020, and the final stretch with 13 stations is scheduled for completion in 2021.