Preparatory work to connect Thomson-East Coast Line with Changi Airport to start in 2025

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

- Kok Yufeng

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 longerterm 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.