Tag Archives: downtown line

I promised Downtown Line staff a durian treat if DTL crossed the 300-day disruption-free milestone. And they did, last week! This is both significant and very inspiring for the other MRT lines. They will now shoot for the 400-day milestone.

At 6.30pm, on Thursday, I was on the DTL going towards Chinatown, on board was a group of blue clad soldiers, obviously from Mindef at Hillview. They were all sitting in a row. At Beauty World Station, an old man of about 75yrs got up and was tottering about with a walking-stick umbrella looking for a seat.

I cannot help but to notice that like some shopping centers, the glass railings at the new Downtown Line stations are totally see through. While they are very aesthetic, I think women might not be aware that they might risk being "up-skirt" if they stand too close to the railings. Would it be possible to bring this matter to the attention of the authorities?

Observant riders on the Downtown Line 2 which opened yesterday spotted a glaring mistake for one of the MRT station's Tamil translations: in an attempt to spell "Tan Kah Kee" station in Tamil script, the station name was mistakenly translated as "Paan Kah Kee".

On Monday, the Land Transport Authority announced that work on Canberra MRT station (NS12) has started. It is expected to be completed by 2019. China State Construction Engineering was awarded the contract to build the station for a sum of S$90 million. The construction company, established in 1992, is also currently working on the construction of Downtown Line 3 Kaki Bukit and Geylang Bahru stations.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has filed some $500 million in claims against bankrupt contractor Alpine Bau for not completing two MRT projects, in what is believed to be the biggest claim of its kind in Singapore. But it is unlikely to recoup anywhere near the full amount.

It was announced last month that the chief executive of SBS Transit’s Downtown Line division, Mr Wong Wai Keong, left the company on 31 Mar. SBS Transit, a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corp, said that Mr Wong, 58, had opted for “early retirement for personal reasons”. ST speculated that it could be because he had recently become a grandfather. Mr Wong, a chartered engineer, joined SBS Transit in 2005, after having spent 16 years with the Land Transport Authority and one of its predecessors, MRT Corp. Taking over Mr Wong is a British national, Simon Lane, who is only 4 years younger than Mr Wong.