Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced the rail alignment and station locations for Downtown Line 3 (DTL3), which will measure 21km and will be entirely underground.
The 5.8m diameter twin-tube tunnel DTL3 is the final stretch of the 42km Downtown Line to be built at an estimated cost of USD 8.9bn. The tunnel is slated to enhance rail connectivity in the eastern corridors to the Central Business District and developments in the Marina Bay area. Fully underground, DTL3 comprises 16 stations, including three interchange stations: MacPherson, Tampines and Expo. These interchange stations will link to the Circle Line and the East West Line, providing greater accessibility and significantly improve travel time for commuters.
DTL3 will also complement the EWL and serve residents along the MacPherson, Bedok Reservoir and Kaki Bukit area, providing significant time savings for residents in these estates. With three interchange stations, DTL3 will also improve accessibility to other areas such as the MacPherson interchange station will link DTL3 to CCL.
Located beside the existing EWL Tampines station and bus interchange, the DTL Tampines station will form the future Tampines transport hub. This will provide seamless access for commuters who frequent the Tampines Regional Centre.
Expo interchange station will link DTL3 to EWL and provide access for companies located in the Changi Business Park. The station will also serve the needs of students from the future university that will be located within walking distance of the two stations.
When fully operational in 2017, the 34 stations on DTL will serve about 500,000 commuters daily.
