4 New MRT Stations on Jurong Region Line Will Begin Construction This Quarter; Awarded 2 Civil Contracts Worth S$526M

Looks like Pulau NTU will be Pulau no more, with the new Jurong Region Line (JRL) finally connecting it to the rest of Singapore when it starts operations.

4 New MRT Stations on Jurong Region Line Will Begin Construction This Quarter; Awarded 2 Civil Contracts Worth S$526M

Four new stations on the new rail line, connecting Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Jurong Town Corporation industrial area, are ready to begin construction, according to The Straits Times.

Construction is expected to begin this quarter, or before July 2021.

The process of designing and building these stations started on Tuesday (6 Apr), when the Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded two civil contracts worth S$263 million each for their completion.

They announced the news (along with some sexy, futuristic pictures) on a Facebook post, which you can view below:

The contracts are reported to have been won by the Singaporean business Hwa Seng Builder, and a joint venture between local firm SCB Building Construction and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. Both have had considerable experience in Singapore’s transport industry.

Two of the stations will be located in the industrial area in the vicinity of Jurong Pier Road, and have been named Jurong Hill (JS11) and Jurong Pier (JS12) for now.

The stations serving NTU will be called Nanyang Gateway (JW3) and Nanyang Crescent (JW4), so that the university can ostentatiously flaunt that they have not one, but two MRT stations on campus—named after them, for good measure!

The addition of these stations is expected to shorten travel time to the western parts of Singapore significantly. 

Someone living in Choa Chu Kang travelling to NTU’s Lee Wee Nam Library, for example, will require about an hour on the present public transport network. With the JRL, however, the trip from Choa Chu Kang will take only 35 minutes!

And for NTU students living in Bedok… good luck.

What is the JRL?

Westies will love this.

First announced in early 2013 as part of the Land Transport Masterplan, the JRL will serve future developments in the west of Singapore, including Tengah and Jurong Gateway. 

It is slated to provide far better connectivity to the Jurong region, which is expected to become the largest node of business activity outside of the Central Business District, according to the LTA.

The line will have three branches, including one serving Boon Lay and Tawas, one from Tengah to Pandan Reservoir via Jurong East interchange, and the branch we’ve talked about—the one serving western Jurong.

A West Coast Extension connecting the JRL to Haw Par Villa station on the Circle Line (CCL) was also studied, though the plans were ultimately not implemented, according to transport fan site Land Transport Guru.

It will be the first MRT line in Singapore to be entirely above ground, which will be to the elation of NTU students when they take their exams to the lyrical percussion of passing trains. 

The line will start operating… from 2027 to 2029. So it won’t be relevant in the immediate future, except on the brochures of real estate agents advertising upcoming MRT access to their new developments.

And sadly, as much as NTU has been mentioned in this article, current students won’t be able to enjoy the sparkling new JRL. What they will enjoy, however, is the sound of construction signalling the start of another beautiful day at Pulau NTU.

Feature Image: Facebook (Land Transport Authority – We Keep Your World Moving)