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North East Line

Legend Circle Line to Dhoby Ghaut via Buona Vista (future) NE1, CC29 HarbourFront ↔CC Line (future) East West Line to Boon Lay NE3, EW16 Outram Park ↔EW Line East West Line to Pasir Ris and Changi Airport Downtown Line to Bukit Panjang via Promenade (future) NE4, DT1 Chinatown ↔DT Line (future) Downtown Line to Expo (future) NE5 Clarke Quay Singapore River North South Line to Jurong East NE6, NS24, CC1 Dhoby Ghaut ↔NS Line, CC Line (future) North South Line to Marina Bay Circle Line to HarbourFront via Paya Lebar (future) Downtown Line to Expo (future) NE7 Little India ↔DT Line (future) Downtown Line to Bukit Panjang (future) NE8 Farrer Park NE9 Boon Keng NE10 Potong Pasir NE11 Woodleigh (closed) Circle Line to HarbourFront via Buona Vista (future) NE12, CC13 Serangoon ↔CC Line (future) Circle Line to Dhoby Ghaut via Paya Lebar (future) NE13 Kovan NE14 Hougang NE15 Buangkok Sengkang Depot Sengkang LRT West Loop to Fernvale via Renjong Sengkang LRT East Loop to Bakau via Ranggung NE16, STC Sengkang ↔SKLRT Sengkang LRT East Loop to Bakau via Compassvale Sengkang LRT West Loop to Fernvale via Cheng Lim Punggol LRT West Loop to Samudera via Soo Teck (future) Punggol LRT East Loop to Riviera via Cove NE17, PTC Punggol ↔PGLRT Punggol LRT East Loop to Riviera via Damai Punggol LRT West Loop to Samudera via Sam Kee (future)

The North East MRT Line (NEL) is the third Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore and the world's first fully underground, automated and driverless rapid transit line. The line is 20 km long with 16 stations, and operated by SBS Transit. Traveling from one end of this line to the other end takes around half an hour.^[1] This line is coloured purple in the rail map.

As the name implies, the line connects central Singapore to the northeastern part of the island. Transfer to the North South Line is provided at Dhoby Ghaut station and East West Line at Outram Park station. This line is the first in Singapore to be entirely underground. The North East Line is the first line in Singapore to have artwork integrated into all its sixteen stations, under the Art in Transit programme.

Contents 1 Stations 2 Rolling Stock/Trains 3 History 4 Issues 5 Disruptions 6 References 7 External Links

Station Number	Station Name	Interchange
NE1 / CC29	HarbourFront	Interchange with Circle Line and Sentosa Express
NE2	Future Station
NE3 / EW16	Outram Park	Interchange with East West Line
NE4 / DT1	Chinatown	Interchange with Downtown Line (future)
NE5	Clarke Quay
NE6 / NS24 / CC1	Dhoby Ghaut	Interchange with North South Line and Circle Line
NE7	Little India	Interchange with Downtown Line (future)
NE8	Farrer Park
NE9	Boon Keng
NE10	Potong Pasir
NE11	Woodleigh (Not in operation)
NE12 / CC13	Serangoon	Interchange with Circle Line
NE13	Kovan
NE14	Hougang
NE15	Buangkok
NE16 / STC	Sengkang	Interchange with Sengkang LRT
NE17 / PTC	Punggol	Interchange with Punggol LRT

The rolling stock consists of Alstom Metropolis Cars, run in six-car formation.

The Land Transport Authority received approval for the construction of the North East Line on January 16, 1996. French company Alstom was chosen as the main contractor and manager of the project. The operating license was given to new rail operator SBS Transit in order to foster competition with SMRT Corporation.

The line was scheduled for completion in 2002, but due to various problems in the automation, the opening was repeatedly delayed. It was finally opened on June 20, 2003, with higher fares than existing lines supposedly to compensate for the heavy construction costs (S$4.6 billion).

At the time that the line was opened, all of the stations were operating except Buangkok and Woodleigh. SBS Transit announced that these would open only when there was a critical mass of passengers in those areas. With respect to Buangkok, which had already been fully built, the company claimed that the projected number of passengers was too low to cover operating costs. Constant public pressure forced it to review the situation, and SBS Transit announced that it would opening Buangkok station on 15 January 2006. As expected, Buangkok station's first-week ridership was the lowest on the NEL, and does not cover operating costs.

At present, trains operate at 4-minute frequencies during peak hours, 6-minute frequencies during midday service and 8-minute frequencies in the early morning and night times.

Despite some initial glitches when the driverless line first opened, it has operated more or less reliably, as compared to the Bukit Panjang driverless LRT run by competitor SMRT Corporation, which was fraught with repeated hiccups.

A software flaw on one of the first days of operation paralysed the trains for several hours. Another problem of trains stalling at stations repeatedly was traced to commuters accidentally pressing the Emergency Communication Button whenever they leaned on the train wall, and rectified by placing plastic shields over the buttons.

The North East Line has also been criticised for charging higher fares than the rest of the system. Despite that, it had been operating at a loss until late 2006. After half a year of operation, ridership remained below expectations at an average of 170,000 passengers per day, short of the 250,000 per day needed to break even. At that time, SBS Transit estimated its losses for 2003 at S$40 million, and was even rumored to be considering selling the line to competitor SMRT Corporation, although both operators dismissed such speculation. However, the ridership has been slowly increasing, and broke the break-even mark of 250,000 in late 2006. The North East Line operations has been turning in profits since.

On 24 July 2006, passengers on board a NEL train headed for HarbourFront were evacuated after it stalled in the tunnel due to a loss of traction power around 12:45 p.m. ^[2] The breakdown occurred when the overhead power lines in the tunnel were dislodged and disconnected after the faulty insulator supporting them gave way. Electricity was cut off from the train. It was reported that commuters in the tunnel saw sparks and heard a loud bang before the train halted. Passengers had to walk a distance of about 200m back to Outram Park MRT Station as a result. 100,000 commuters were affected by the disruption for seven hours that day, with shuttle buses plying the affected sections of the line. An investigation was carried out during the period of ten months after the incident. The Land Transport Authority announced that operator SBS Transit will not be fined or penalised for the disruption, adding the fault was due to a faulty part and not negligence. Investigations pointed to the quality of the ceramic insulators made by Ceralep Sn. The LTA said Ceralep had examined all 251 insulators in stock and are free of defects. The LTA said the dislodged wires did not pose a danger to the passengers on the train, since a circuit breaker would have been tripped by the incident. In September 2006, another electrical fault disrupted train services for an hour. SBS Transit said the breakdown was due to a faulty electrical relay, a type of switch. The defective relay led to a replacement of about 200 relays made by Relais Electroniques Deutsch, a French corporation.^[3]

1. ^ Travel Time, SBS Transit
2. ^ Joanne Leow, "NEL train services from Dhoby Ghaut to HarbourFront halted", Channel NewsAsia, 2006-07-24
3. ^ Christopher Tan, No negligence, so train operation won't be fined, The Straits Times, 2007-04-24

• North East Line (SBS Transit)
• North East Line (Land Transport Authority)
• Railway Technology on the NEL

v • d • e Railway lines in Singapore
Mass Rapid Transit	Circle (SMRT) · Downtown · East West (SMRT) · North East (SBST) · North South (SMRT)
Light Rapid Transit	Bukit Panjang (SMRT) · Punggol (SBST) · Sengkang (SBST) · Jurong
International Rail	Intercity North-South (KTM)
Other	Changi Airport Skytrain (CAAS) · Jurong BirdPark Panorail (WRS) · Sentosa Express (SDC) · Sentosa Monorail (defunct) (SDC)
Note: The colour representing the Downtown Line is yet to be confirmed.