A wise old man once told me, “Back in my days, it was all about functionality. Today? It’s about functionality and looks.”
So true.
Like what my fat boss always like to say, food can no longer just taste good. To survive, they have to both look and taste good.
Which was why he fired me from the position of a photographer and hired a real one. Meh.
And the latest trains to arrive in Singapore combines both aesthetics and function into one. Supposedly.
I mean, we can’t tell if they’re functioning correctly until it goes live, right?
The Thompson-East Coast Line
Okay, we can’t exactly talk about the new trains without talking about the line they’re supposed to be running on, which is the Thompson-East Coast Line or TEL for short.
Estimated to be fully operationalise in 2024, the line will connect the north of Singapore to the east of Singapore.
In the words of my other handsome colleague, Justin Tan, finally, there’s something to connect the northerners to the rest of Singapore.
The line will be completed in stages from 2019 and has 7 interchange stations that connect to the East-West Line, North-South Line, North-East Line, Circle Line and the Downtown Line.
With such an ambitious line, you’d know that only really, really special trains can match up to the high standards of this upcoming network.
Featuring, the all-new TEL trains
Look at these beauties all decked out in black and white, with a strip of brown and yellow strategically placed on its sides.
Just the exterior of the four-car train is good enough for an #OOTD or two, but wait till you get into the train.
So. Colourful.
But, of course lah, if the train remains true to SMRT form, each cabin will have different colour schemes.
So you can tell your friend I don’t know which door, but it’s the red colour seats one mah.
Here’s one Insta-worthy pose that you might want to try.
It’ll go viral, confirm-plus-chop.
But that’s if there are seats for you to do that
Similar to the new trains on the North-South and East-West lines, 60 of the 91 trains on TEL will have tip-up seats as well. But don’t worry. If it’s the same as the NSL and EWL trains, there’ll still be normal seats on the train.
With these seats, passengers have more seats during non-peak hours. During peak hours? Everybody stand together.
One for all, all for one mah.
Each car will also have five doors for boarding and alighting.
Two of the trains are equipped with state of the art equipment too
Remember how we said the new trains are going to be powerful? So powerful they can reduce train breakdowns.
Well, that’s because of these two trains we shall name Thor and Ironman. They’re like our very own version of Thomas and Friends: Avengers version.
According to SMRT, two trains will be equipped with high-tech cameras, lasers and sensors. They will scan and inspect the rail as the train moves about its business and report any rail defects or faults detected.
So for example, if the reading records a crack in the rail, an alert will be sent to the engineering team who can then carry out repairs quickly before anything happens.
Which means lesser train disruptions.
Here’s a final footnote before I leave you to the rest of your day.
The manufacturer for these trains is a consortium made up of Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries and China’s CSR Qingdao Sifang.
By the way, they were the same manufacturers behind the 26 trains that caused a big hoo-ha in Singapore back in 2016.
Hairline cracks were found in the structure connecting the car body and the bogie of the trains back then.
Now I’m worried.
Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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