On June 14, 2023, the Land Transport Authority of Singapore awarded the vehicle contract for the Singapore Cross-Island Line project to CRRC Sifang Joint-stock Company. The joint-stock company consists of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Rolling Stock Company Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary - Singapore CRRC Sifang Rolling Stock Service Company Limited.

Contract content

Includes 11 column add-ons and long-term service support options. The new car will be completely designed and manufactured by CRRC Sifang, with gradual deliveries expected to begin in 2027. The project will be the first full life cycle project of a Chinese rail transit equipment company in Singapore.

Project profile

The Singapore Cross Island Line is Singapore's eighth MRT line and will serve the east, North-East and west of Singapore, connecting major hubs such as Jurong Lake District, Punggol Digital Wisdom Park and Changi Area.

The cross-island line will be constructed in three phases. The first phase of the project is 29 kilometers long, including 12 stations from the Aviation Park to Guangming Mountain. As of March 2022, all contracts for Phase 1 have been awarded. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed by 2030. The second phase, announced in 2022, is about 15km long and includes six stations from Lawn City to Jurong Lake District. The third phase of the project is the Punggol Extension Line, which is 7.3 km long and includes four stations from Punggol to Basilik Park. Phases two and three are expected to be completed in 2032.

Train characteristics

Smarter: The trains are fully autonomous, and to enhance operation and maintenance, the cross-island trains will be equipped with condition monitoring and fault diagnosis systems for early failure prediction, and some trains will also be equipped with automatic track/overhead conductive rail detection systems for real-time monitoring.

Higher transit performance: Similar to Singapore's Townshen-East Coast Line trains, each train has five doors on each side. In order to improve the passing performance of the train inside the car, the cross-island line train through the design is wider, 1.6 meters, and the general train through is usually 1.4 meters.

Energy efficiency: The project uses 1500 volts DC overhead conductive rail power supply, compared to the typical 750 volts DC three-rail power supply, energy efficiency is significantly improved.Editor/Ma Xue