Commencing the tunnels in between stations

Contract T206 is a tunnel-only contract with no station structures catered for. The contract boundaries stretch from the southern end of the Woodlands (Central) station to the cut & cover section within the Singapore Air Force camp at Sembawang and to Mandai Depot. Woodlands South station which will be built under a separate contract lies within the contract boundaries as well.

To date, machinery has been brought in to the two launch shafts near Innova Secondary School though work in earnest has yet to begin.

A view of the construction machinery behind Innova Secondary with Mandai Depot visible in the background.

A view of the diverted road to make way for the construction of the Tunnel Boring Machine launch shaft.

Contract Awards - T251

Today the Land Transport Authority announced the award of contract T251 for the supply of electric trains for the Thomson (TSL) and Eastern Region Lines (ERL). A total of 91 units will be procured for the two lines under the contract, awarded to the consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

A render of the train to be procured from Kawasaki - CSR Qingdao Sifang for the TSL & ERL

Contract Awards - T218, T220, T222 & T225

Today the Land Transport Authority announced the award of 4 contracts to build stations and associated tunnels. With the award of these 4 contracts, there only remain 3 such contracts for all stations to be awarded to contractors.

The first award is for contract T218, involving the construction of Orchard Boulevard station only. This contract has gone to local company KTC that is currently working on the Tampines Central station on the Downtown Line.

The first render issued of Orchard Boulevard station. It lacks certain details made more prominent in subsequent renders.

Rounding the corner into Woodlands South

Contracto T205 is for the construction of Woodlands South station near Christ Church Secondary School. Since the last update, some more construction machinery has been brought on site and the site office area completed. A retaining wall is to be built within the hoarded up site of Christ Church Secondary to facilitate a road diversion in time to come.

A view of the station work site area with Christ Church Secondary School on the right.

Moving down to Woodlands Central

Moving down south, after curving between HDB blocks and following Woodlands Drive 91 and Woodlands Street 81, the line emerges to Woodlands central. Being an interchange station with the North-South Line, some modification works are necessary at the existing station before construction can begin proper on the Thomson Line station and tunnels.

New generic sub-stations in the foreground with the sleeker existing ones with a design matching the
North-South Line station in the background

Slowly starting in Woodlands North

The first station site on the line, located next to the Republic Polytechnic, is seeing a dramatic change as the greenery gives way to the earthy brown tones. Trees are being cleared to make way for the station site along with a new road system in the area. Once a forested area with a tree-covered hillside, the area is now being leveled after the trees have been felled.

A once forested hillside

An overview of the station area, looking northwards from the HDB blocks at Woodlands St 81.

Looking eastwards from the RP multi-storey carpark at the site office

Construction methodologies

With the Thomson Line running through a variety of locations, different types of construction methodologies will be applied in the construction of the stations. These can be classified into two major groups - bottom-up construction and top-down construction.

A summary of the Thomson Line station construction methodology.

Both the bottom-up and top-down methods take their name directly from the sequence in which the underground structure is constructed. In the bottom-up method, the base of the structure is constructed and subsequently moves up to the surface. The top-down method sees the top slab being constructed and then construction moves downwards to the base slab.

Woodlands & Woodlands South

Update preview - Woodlands Stn

Update preview - LS1 and LS2

Update preview - Woodlands South Stn