Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the acquisition of 66 new trains from Bombardier (Singapore) which will serve the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL). The contract is valuated at USD 519 million and has an option for a 30-year maintenance support for the new train fleet. In total, the value of the contract is USD 1.2 billion.
Four of the new trains will be fitted with an Automatic Track Inspection (ATI) System, which allows concurrent monitoring of the running rails, track equipment and sleepers during operations.
The conceptual design of the trains will be elaborated in Germany, while the design coordination will be led by Bombardier’s team based in Singapore. They will be manufactured and assembled in Bombardier’s facility in Changchun, China, before arriving in batches from 2021. The trains will then undergo a rigorous testing and commissioning process before they are put into service.
According to LTA requirements, the interior cabins of the train are designed to include more open spaces for parents with strollers and wheelchair users. The new trains’ tip-up seats can be folded up during peak hours to create more room for passengers, without a reduction in the overall number of seats per train car.
Additionally, the trains are designed to facilitate a more robust, efficient and effective predictive maintenance regime, with integrated condition-monitoring features and sensors that transmit data back to a server that can identify emerging faults for rectification before they occur. The trains are also equipped with a self-test system that automatically checks that the trains are fit for operation before daily service commences.
These new six-car trains will replace the 66 first-generation trains that have been serving commuters since the NSEWL commenced operations in 1987.
Share on:
