Chinatown MRT Station


 NE4  DT19 
Chinatown
牛车水
சைனாடவுன்
Chinatown
Rapid transit

Downtown Line platform of Chinatown MRT station.
Location 151 New Bridge Road
91 Upper Cross Street
Singapore 059443/058362
Coordinates 1°17′05″N 103°50′38″E / 1.28485°N 103.844006°E / 1.28485; 103.844006
Operated by SBS Transit (ComfortDelGro) (North East Line)
SBS Transit DTL (Downtown Line)
Line(s)
  North East Line
  Downtown Line
Platforms Island (North East Line)
Side (Downtown Line)
Tracks 4
Connections Bus, Taxi
Construction
Structure type Underground
Platform levels 3
Parking Yes
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Station code  NE4  DT19 
Fare zone 1
History
Opened 20 June 2003 (North East Line)
22 December 2013 (Downtown Line)
Electrified Yes
Previous names People's Park
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station
towards HarbourFront
North East Line
towards Punggol
towards Bukit Panjang
Downtown LineTerminus
towards Bukit Panjang
Downtown Line
Future service
towards Expo
Location
Chinatown MRT Station Concourse
North East Line platform of Chinatown MRT Station

Chinatown MRT Station (NE4/DT19) is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North East Line and the Downtown Line in Outram, Singapore. On the North East Line, it lies between the Outram Park and Clarke Quay MRT stations and between Telok Ayer and Fort Canning MRT stations on the Downtown Line. It is directly below and serves the ethnic district of Chinatown. The construction of the station was considered an engineering achievement, due to the busy traffic on the roads above and a number of nearby historical buildings that had to be preserved during the construction. The section of track between Telok Ayer and this station is the shortest between any two stations on the MRT network; it takes around 35 to 40 seconds for a train to travel between the stations.

This station serves as the southern terminus of the Downtown Line from 22 December 2013 till 2017, where it would be replaced by Expo as the third stage of the line opens.

Art in Transit

North East Line

There are Chinese calligraphy paintings in the station titled, "The Phoenix’s-Eye Domain" telling the significance of Chinatown. It is painted by renowned Singapore artist Tan Swie Hian.[1]

Downtown Line

Artwork titled, "Flying Colours" by Cheo Chai Hiang illustrate hanging clothes on poles outside windows, delivering the illusion towards commuters passing by that the clothes are flying in the wind.[2]

North East Line platform of Chinatown MRT station in 2010.

History

The North East Line part of this station was first constructed and opened on 20 June 2003. It is also called People's Park MRT Station. It is sited below Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road. Provisions were made during the construction for Downtown MRT Line, where it was upgraded in January 2010.

The Downtown Line part of this station commenced on 12 February 2008 and opened on 22 December 2013, as part of the six-station Stage 1 of the Downtown Line. It is also called Hong Lim MRT Station. The Downtown Line station and tracks are built beneath Cross Street, above and perpendicular to the North-East Line station and tracks. Construction of the Downtown Line station also added a new entrance near Hong Lim Complex which enhances the connectivity to Hong Lim Complex instead of taking the MRT to Raffles Place and struggling with a walk.[3]

Before the North-East Line part of this station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Farrer Park, Serangoon and Hougang stations.

Construction

This station is said to be the most challenging station to build on the North-East line, due to the large number of buildings above ground, most with reinforced concrete or timber piles and all in marine clay.[4] Another feat was that they had to preserve Garden Bridge, a large overhead bridge on bore piles, while building the station below. The tidal Eu Tong Sen Canal was also diverted into four two-meter diameter steel pipes slung under the temporary traffic decks (two on each side). Rigorous safety precautions ensured there were no fatal accidents during the construction.

Station layout

The main entrance and exit of the station is situated in the middle of Pagoda Street within the heart of Chinatown, which is now closed to all automobiles but remains open to pedestrians and manual vehicles such as trishaws. One could note that the modern architecture of the station entrance could provide an uneasy contrast to the Victorian era shophouses surrounding it, although some like the cultural fusion between the two different architectures.

L1 Street Level
B1
DTL Concourse Faregates, Ticketing Machines, Passenger Service Centre
B2
NEL & DTL Concourse Faregates, Ticketing Machines, Passenger Service Centre
Side platform, No Train Service at this Platform
Platform D Downtown Line Westbound towards  DT1  BP6  Bukit Panjang via  DT18  Telok Ayer (←)
Platform C Downtown Line Westbound towards  DT1  BP6  Bukit Panjang via  DT18  Telok Ayer (←)
Side platform, doors will open on the left
B3 Platform A North East Line Southbound towards  NE1  CC29  HarbourFront via  NE3  EW16  TE17  Outram Park (→)
Island platform, doors will open on the right
Platform B North East Line Northbound towards  NE17  PTC  Punggol via  NE5  Clarke Quay (←)
Transfer Linkway Paid link to Downtown Line Platform C

Exits

Transport connections

Rail

Destination First Train Last Train
Mon - Fri Sat Sunday &
Public Holiday 		Daily
North East Line
to NE1 HarbourFront 6.10am 6.11am 6.32am 11.55pm
to NE17 Punggol 5.50am 6.05am 6.25am 12.00am
Downtown Line
to DT1 Bukit Panjang 6.10am 6.10am 6.28am 12.10am

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chinatown MRT Station.

References

  1. ↑ "NE4 - Chinatown". SBS Transit. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Downtown Line 1: Art-In-Transit" (PDF). Land Transport Authority. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Chinatown Station". Land Transport Authority. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  4. ↑ Other Rail Projects - North East Line, Land Transport Authority

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.