SINGAPORE - Three MRT stations on the East-West Line (EWL) – Tanah Merah, Expo and Changi Airport – will undergo modifications from 2025 so they can be converted into Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) stations in future.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) on April 29 called a tender to appoint a contractor to carry out the addition and alteration works. This is part of a longer-term plan to create a direct MRT connection from Changi Airport to Singapore’s city centre by 2040.

Announced in 2019 as part of the 2040 Land Transport Master Plan, the planned extension will extend the TEL past its last eastern stop at the upcoming Sungei Bedok station and pass through the future Terminal 5 (T5), which is slated to open in the mid-2030s.

It will then connect to the stretch of the EWL between Changi Airport and Tanah Merah, which will become part of the TEL instead.

Currently, those taking the MRT between the city and the airport have to switch trains at Tanah Merah station. This is because Expo and Changi Airport stations are on a branch of the EWL that operates as a separate shuttle train service.

In 2016, then Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed that the Government was studying the feasibility of extending the 43km TEL. After announcing the extension in 2019, LTA conducted engineering studies to assess the technical challenges and firm up the alignment.

Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao reported at the time that the studies also looked at how best to integrate the three existing EWL stations with the TEL after they are converted.

The EWL and TEL run on different systems, so retrofitting will be required.

For instance, the EWL uses six-car trains with four doors per train car, while the TEL uses four-car trains with five doors per train car. For signalling, the EWL uses a system from French company Thales, while the TEL uses one from another French company, Alstom.

LTA said more details of the planned modification works at the three EWL stations will be announced after the contract is awarded in early 2025. The tender is set to close on Aug 26.

Mr David Ng, chairman of the civil and structural engineering technical committee at the Institution of Engineers, Singapore, said it makes sense to incorporate the Tanah Merah-Changi Airport branch of the EWL into the TEL as it means passengers will be able to transfer between both rail lines more seamlessly.

At present, the two MRT lines run parallel to each other, with the only interchange at Outram Park station. Extending the TEL to Tanah Merah will connect the two lines in the east.

Mr Ng, who has previous experience working on the Circle Line and Downtown Line with LTA, said internal modifications will have to be made to the three EWL stations to prepare them for the conversion to become TEL stations, but he does not expect major structural changes.

“It is more the systems, the signalling, and some mechanical and track modifications that will be needed,” he added.

Instead, most of the construction work will entail extending underground tunnels and train tracks from the current Changi Airport station to T5, and then to Sungei Bedok, Mr Ng said.

Associate Professor Raymond Ong, a transport infrastructure researcher at the National University of Singapore, said extending the TEL will provide a much more convenient alternative for people travelling to the airport, be it for work, leisure or travel.

The fact that passengers can easily transfer between the TEL and the upcoming Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link in Woodlands North also means that people living in Johor Bahru may be more likely to consider flying in and out of Changi Airport when the TEL extension is completed, he added.

The TEL will connect passengers to the cross-border RTS Link between Woodlands North and Johor Bahru, which is expected to be operational by end-2026.

Comprising 32 underground stations linking the north and east of Singapore, the TEL is Singapore’s sixth MRT line.

Passenger service on the fourth stage, comprising a 10.8km stretch between Tanjong Rhu and Bayshore, is due to start on June 23. The fifth stage, comprising Bedok South and Sungei Bedok stations, will be completed in 2026, after construction challenges led to fresh delays.