Launch of first 7th-generation MRT train draws over 100 fans

Train cabins have more open spaces to fit strollers and wheelchairs, and perch seats

- Ng Keng Gene

As an Alstom Movia R151 train rolled into Tuas Link station, its operator sounded a horn, eliciting cheers from more than 100 people gathered to welcome it into service.

"Open, open, open," they chanted at about 7.10am on Sunday as the first of 106 seventh-generation trains to be launched on the NorthSouth and East-West lines (NSEWL) slowed to a halt, before its doors opened for commuters to board.

Among those waiting in anticipation was primary school pupil Tan Teck Ern, accompanied by his parents and six-year-old brother.

The nine-year-old woke up at 4am for the occasion.

By about 6am - the usual time he gets out of bed for school, he was at Tuas Link station with his family, making the trip from their home in Bishan.

Like many other train fans there, he could rattle off features of the new model effortlessly.

He looked forward to seeing its liquid-crystal display (LCD) route map similar to the ones on the -fifth- and sixth-generation trains.