In a massive new investment, the government will pump in another S$20 billion on new rail lines and extensions islandwide, Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced Friday [25 Jan 2008]. This is over and above the S$20 billion the government has already committed for the on-going Boon Lay extension, the Circle Line and the Downtown Line.
The rail update is the second in a series of three major policy announcements in a sweeping review of the land transport network. A bus system overhaul was announced last week. When the plans come to fruition in 2020, there will be one MRT station within five minutes' walk in the city, in a network that will be comparable to cities like New York and London, and surpassing Hong Kong and Tokyo.
There are currently 138 kilometres of rail lines. By 2020, authorities hope to double the network length to 278 km and expect it to carry three times as many journeys, from today's 1.4 million a day to 4.6 million in 2020. Two new lines will be built - the Thomson Line and the Eastern Region Line. Existing lines will also be extended. The North-South Line will be extended 1 km to serve the Marina Bay area while the East-West Line will be extended another 14 km west into Tuas. To avoid long waiting time and crowded trains, there will be 93 additional train trips weekly during the morning and evening peaks.
- As I have written earlier, it's a great initiative, but from a peakoiler point of view, I do wonder just what these new trains will be running on seeing as how the expected completion date is 2020. _________________ Live quotes - crude oil, gold and currencies
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Joined: Dec 18, 2004 Posts: 4134 Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject: Re: Singapore MRT rail network length to double by 2020
I read from the CNA article that by 2020 the MRT will be considered a citizens 'other car'. What on earth will their 'first car' be?
It does seem like the infrastructure improvement planning is well intentioned, but the long-term vision is weak... much as it is in the rest of the industrialized world. _________________ Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject: Re: Singapore MRT rail network length to double by 2020
lowem wrote:
I do wonder just what these new trains will be running on seeing as how the expected completion date is 2020.
An even more interesting question is where they will get the energy to run all the air con units that make all the high-rises livable.
The expansion is cool though. I lived in Singapore for a while and never felt like I needed a car. In fact, it would have been more difficult to have a car. _________________ With a farewell scream of escaping steam, the boiler bows to the Diesel;
The Iron Horse has run its course and we ride a chromium weasel
-Ogden Nash
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:52 pm Post subject: Re: Singapore MRT rail network length to double by 2020
dissimulo wrote:
An even more interesting question is where they will get the energy to run all the air con units that make all the high-rises livable.
The units on the higher floors are usually quite windy. I'd worry about the lifts (or elevators, as the Americans call them). _________________ Live quotes - crude oil, gold and currencies
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:38 am Post subject: Re: Singapore MRT rail network length to double by 2020
eastbay wrote:
I read from the CNA article that by 2020 the MRT will be considered a citizens 'other car'. What on earth will their 'first car' be?
Legs. In the Hokkien dialect, "kar" refers to legs. Shrug. Local joke
Anyway. Last week they announced a big revamp for bus services. This week it's the announcement of throwing S$20 billion dollars at rail.
Next week, they'll probably be talking about the car population. They have been having a policy of letting the car population grow at a targeted 3% per year. Last year, in practice, it was more like 9%. Given the space constraints in a small country like Singapore, obviously we can't have that going on forever. I'd be expecting measures like road usage pricing going up dramatically. _________________ Live quotes - crude oil, gold and currencies
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