Thomson Line Breaks Ground

 The Thomson Line groundbreaking ceremony was held at Woodlands Station today. The ceremony, officiated by Guest-of-Honor Mr Lui Tuck Yew, also exhibited mock up displays of the projects under Civil Team 1, showcasing stations from Woodlands North to Springleaf and the Mandai Depot.

Also announced today were the finalized station names for the TSL. Sin Ming station has been renamed to Bright Hill while all other stations retain their working names.

Groundbreaking Ceremony

Mandai Depot & SBAB

The site at the Mandai Depot has seen an increasing number of piling rigs appearing over the last few months. As works progress in full swing at the depot, the SBAB C&C has been handed over to STEC following the relocation of the airbase fence. Structural works will commence in the next quarter.

With this update we conclude the review of the existing progress of Stage 1 and 2 thus far. Our aerial updates will suspend as the haze intensifies in the coming months. We shall begin updating stage 3 towards the end of the year.

The Thomson Line groundbreaking ceremony shall take place at Woodlands this Friday.

Southern end of Mandai Depot where Orchidville once resided

The future Mandai Depot in a mock up

Mandai Depot to the left, SBAB C&C on the right

RTS Facility Building

Contract T207 has been awarded to Shimizu and will be a tunnel-only contract spanning from SBAB to Springleaf. The southern launch shaft at SBAB will be constructed by STEC and handed over to Shimizu upon structural completion. Upon leaving SBAB, majority of the tunnel alignment runs under the Seletar Expressway.

Bored tunnels from SBAB to RTS

The tunnels will go into a stacked configuration upon reaching Mandai Avenue, where a RTS facility building will be situated. The facility will also be built under T207 and located along Mandai Road leading into the Crematorium. The site office should also be located here.

An escape shaft will be located at exit 8a of the SLE, south of the airbase runway.

Bored tunnels from SPL to RTS

Similarly at Springleaf, a launch shaft north of the station will be built by Leighton-JH, the contractor for T208, before being handed over to Shimizu. The 2 tunnels will make 2 tight turns to align under the SLE from Upper Thomson Rd, and will similarly go into a stacked configuration upon reaching the RTS facility building. 

There will be a total of 6 cross passages between Springleaf and the RTS facility.

Site clearing for Escape shaft

RTS facility building

Springleaf & Tagore

Contract T208 is the only TSL contract to have 2 stations under its scope of works. Springleaf station will be operational when the line is completed. The second station of Tagore will only have its basic structure ready and remain closed. Plans to rejuvenate the existing Ang Mo Kio town will see a phased expansion into the existing forest beyond Lentor. Its aesthetics and fittings will only be done up when there is sufficient demand from the new private residential estate.

In the meantime, the Tagore box will function very similar to the current Hume station along the Downtown Line. 4 TBMs will launch out of Tagore towards Springleaf and Lentor. Upon completion of tunnelling works, the Tagore site will be prepared as a temporary staging area for trackworks. There will be 3 cross passages between Springleaf and Tagore, and another 3 between Tagore and Lentor. 2 CPs will be integrated into the Tagore station.

Numerous crawler cranes have been delivered to the site at Springleaf. As of now, the trees along Upper Thomson have not been felled as earthworks are concentrated on the west side where the site office sits. Site clearing can be distinctively seen at Tagore as well.

Update preview - Springleaf station

Update preview - Tagore station

Lentor & 5XO

Heading back north of Mayflower, the site for the future 5XO already has trees cleared along the southbound side of the road. The lush greenery along the northbound side still remains, but not for long.

Felling works have completed at the Lentor site. An earlier preview where the trees once stood can be found in the February archive. The contractor is preparing to stage a road diversion at Lentor Drive, and preparations is about midway with road surfacing works taking place soon. The interfaced junction at Yio Chu Kang will have minor modifications to accommodate the diversion.

The site office has been completed with a brown livery, possibly to blend in with the surrounding residential homes.

Residential district of Lentor that the station would serve

Update Preview - Lentor Station

Update Preview - 5XO

Piling at Caldecott

Caldecott station has seen significant changes to the site since the last review 6 months ago. Numerous crawler cranes and drilling rigs have been positioned around the site following the completion of earthworks and terracing. A road diversion has also taken place along the west bound lane of Toa Payoh Rise.

The 3rd level of the site office at Caldecott houses the project office of LTA's TSL Civil Team 2. This team will be in charge of heading contract T209 to T215 on the client's side.

Update Preview - North facing

Update Preview - South facing

Upper Thomson - It's Beginning

Almost all vegetation have been cleared at the station site and ULS, with the center median hoarded up with concrete barriers while compact excavators remove the remaining obstructions beneath while canal diversion works take place.

Tunnelling to CDT is set to be a battleground between earth and infrastructure. A 500m section below Marymount Road will be bored parallel, directly below the existing Circle Line tunnels with 10-15m clearance, something that the local authorities have not endeavored before. Other challenges thrown into the works include tunnelling below the existing Macritchie Viaduct, Marymount Flyover, DTSS as well as concurrent projects like the North South Expressway and SPPG cable tunnel taking place simultaneously.

Tunnelling works at ULS are scheduled to commence by 2H 2015. ULS will have a cross passage integrated within the shaft. ULS-UTS will have a single CP, while ULS-CDT will feature 4 CPs within the tunnels.

Update Preview - Station box looking north

Update Preview - Station box looking south

Update Preview - Upper Thomson Launch Shaft (ULS)

Soil investigating Sin Ming

Contract T211 is for the construction of Sin Ming station and two pairs of tunnels - one towards Mayflower in the north and another towards Upper Thomson in the south. Works at Sin Ming station currently involve hoarding works and soil investigation works. The site office for the contract is also coming up quickly, roughly where the future propose Cross Island Line station may be situated. Click here for a look at Sin Ming in February 2013.

Soil Investigation works where the launch shaft and turnout stub will be located

Bishan Park Secondary School where the existing sub-station and basketball court will be demolished

Making of Mayflower

Contract T210 is for the construction of the Mayflower station and was awarded to Hong Kong-based Gammon Construction, who have completed both the North East Line (NEL) and Downtown Line (DTL) Chinatown stations and the Bukit Panjang LRT previously. Mayflower station will see the most exits on any Thomson Line station with 7 exit structures being built. Situated on a slight incline, the station will see construction taking place in close proximity to many HDB blocks around. Already, a number of trees have been chopped down to make way for the station construction and will be re-planted once construction is done. Some walkways between the blocks will be demolished in the process as well.

A view of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 near the Kebun Baru CC on 4 May 2014

Looking down towards the main construction site.

A view of the existing tree cover on 4 May 2014.