Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the Signing of the Jurong Region Line Contract for the Supply of Trains Between Hyundai Rotem Company and LTA

1.     Today’s signing ceremony marks two significant developments.

2.     First, we take another major step forward in the implementation of our 7th MRT Line, the Jurong Region Line. The JRL will support our plans to remake Jurong as a major business district. It will serve major activity nodes such as the Jurong Lake District, the Jurong Innovation District and Nanyang Technological University. 

3.     Residents will benefit from improved connectivity in the northwest. More direct journeys from North to West will become possible. For instance, a PSA worker from Choa Chu Kang West can half his journey time to Tuas Link station to around 30 minutes. An NTU student from Boon Lay MRT station will similarly half his journey time to around 15 minutes. 

4.     Second, we welcome a new international player – Hyundai Rotem Company or HRC – to the list of train suppliers for our MRT network. 

5.     HRC will be supplying 62 trains for the JRL. HRC is not new to Singapore. LTA has worked with them before when they carried out mid-life refurbishment of our first-generation trains for the North-South and East-West Lines. HRC has also supplied trains to metros in Seoul, Hong Kong and Vancouver. We look forward to a productive relationship with HRC. 

6.     HRC has committed to establish a base in Singapore, to facilitate knowledge transfer and technical support to the JRL operator. This will also allow HRC to provide the operator with Long-Term Service Support for enhanced maintenance of these trains.

7.     Let me share with you some features of the new JRL trains. First, the trains will come with condition monitoring and diagnostic systems. This will allow the operator to track the performance of various systems on the trains and detect faults in real time. With this, the operator can do predictive maintenance and intervene before faults arise. 

8.     Second, the JRL trains will have emergency batteries, which will kick in should there be a prolonged loss of power supply. This allows train staff to pilot the trains to the next nearest station. This will shorten service recovery time. 

9.     Third, the JRL trains will have wider train doors to facilitate movement of commuters in and out of the trains.

10.    The first JRL train should arrive in 2024 for testing. Commuters can look forward to seeing the trains in operation when JRL opens in 2026. 

11.    This is therefore a happy day for commuters. TEL started last week and Woodlands residents are in love with it. They now look forward to TEL Stage 2!

12.    Another piece of good news for commuters is that we have crossed an important milestone in train reliability. All our MRT lines have crossed the one million MKBF target. This is a standard that few metros have achieved. I would like to thank all our rail workers and LTA officers for this significant achievement! 

13.    Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus is affecting our lives. It may be a while before the outbreak dies down. The important thing is for our workers to protect ourselves and our commuters by keeping a high standard of personal hygiene, and keeping our facilities clean and sanitised frequently. If you don’t feel well, seek medical attention promptly and do rest at home. 

14.    Together, we will overcome this outbreak; I am confident of this.