The upcoming Punggol Coast MRT station will be ready by 2024, with about 40 per cent of construction work completed as of yesterday.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung gave this update at a ceremony to mark the completion of tunnel boring works from the existing Punggol station to the future Punggol Coast station yesterday.
The new station had initially been slated for completion in 2023, but this has been delayed owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The project is a 1.6km extension of the North East Line.
Yet another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic - the station’s completion will be delayed by a year.
When open, the station will connect commuters to the still-developing Punggol Digital District, a business park that will be co-located with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) campus.
Mr Ong, in his speech, said the MRT station was an essential component of the space.
“There is no point building a new district that people cannot get to. Just look at places like Tokyo Station in Japan, Piccadilly Circus Station in London and Grand Central Station in New York. They are synonymous with the vibrant and prosperous districts that they serve.
“I hope the upcoming station will become synonymous with the good jobs, quality education and smart lifestyle that Punggol Digital District brings,” he said.
Punggol Coast MRT station is expected to be used by more than 75,000 employees of the new business park, students and residents in the area.
It is part of the Government's plan to expand the rail network from around 230km today to 360km by the early 2030s, and to bring eight in 10 households within a 10-minute walk of a train station.
The business park in Punggol, being developed by JTC Corporation, will offer more than 28,000 new jobs in fields such as cyber security and data science.
The tunnelling works finished yesterday were completed using two tunnel boring machines, each fitted with sensors to monitor the progress in real time to ensure precision and minimise disturbance to the surrounding infrastructure.
Mr Kok Poh June, JTC group director of new estates division 2, said the station is at the centre of the Punggol Digital District and that those within a 10-minute radius will be able to access it under shelter, whether by pedestrian overhead bridges or underpasses.
“It makes it very convenient for the commuters to travel to the MRT station. We focused a lot on the three-in-one integration between the SIT campus, the MRT station and the business park,” he said...
***
A construction site for Punggol Coast MRT Station, as seen from an LRT train travelling from Punggol MRT Station to Sam Kee LRT Station.
Come 2024, Punggol MRT Station will no longer be the northern terminus of the North East Line. All the best to Punggol residents who are used to getting seats on city-bound trains...
All the best too to Sengkang residents who currently “bounce off” Punggol station to get a seat on their trip to the city...
All good things must come to an end!