Commuters will be able to enjoy free travel and participate in a series of activities on 11 November from 10.00am to 9.00pm during “Rail Day Out in the City”, a special opening event for Thomson-East Coast Line Stage 3 (TEL3) before it commences passenger service on 13 November.

2        Commuters can look forward to the following activities during the TEL3 opening event.

a)    Ride along TEL3 to familiarise themselves with the 11 stations, explore the unique station architecture and features, civil defence shelters and interesting landmarks around the stations;
b)    Take part in exciting games and win exciting prizes;
c)    View a special collaborative photo exhibition between LTA and “We The People of Singapore”^[1] at Orchard Station;
d)    Meet our Thoughtful Bunch characters;
e)    Participate in activities and visit numerous booths along the stations, including our Friends of Land Transport (FOLT), SimplyGo, Caring SG Commuters, Public Transport Security and Move Lite kiosks.

Please refer to the Annex for information on the line-up of activities planned at the stations. Commuters can also go to LTA’s social media channels for more details of the various activities.

3        During the opening event on 11 November, TEL3 will be configured to run in an isolated loop to allow for free travel, i.e. it will not be linked to the existing TEL1 and TEL2 stations.  Commuters can only start and end their journey at any of the 11 TEL3 stations. Those who intend to access TEL3 from existing MRT lines (including TEL1 and TEL2) must first tap out and use the following linkways to enter the new stations to enjoy the free travel.

i) Stevens station on the Downtown Line
ii) Orchard station on the North-South Line
iii) Outram Park station on the East-West and North East Lines
iv) Marina Bay station on the North-South and Circle Lines
v) For those travelling between TEL Caldecott and Stevens stations, a free shuttle bus will be provided between these two stations at 10-minute intervals.

4        With more stages of TEL commencing operations in the coming years, commuters living along the TEL corridor will have a faster and more direct MRT connection towards the city centre and to the east of Singapore. LTA will also enhance first-and-last mile connections to the new MRT stations where needed. For example, to enhance connection to Shenton Way MRT Station along Park Street, bus service 400 will be amended to ply Straits View and Park Street. Commuters in the Shenton Way area will benefit from having another connection to the MRT network via the TEL.

5        We will also monitor the changes in travel patterns, in particular for bus services which duplicate the TEL and make adjustments where necessary to optimise the bus network and reallocate the resources to other areas of need.

6        When TEL3 commences passenger service on 13 November, trains will be running along TEL1, TEL2 and TEL3 stations from Woodlands North to Gardens by the Bay at frequencies of five minutes during peak hours and six minutes during off-peak hours. LTA and SMRT will continue to monitor train loading and make necessary adjustments based on operational needs. Commuters can refer to LTA’s MyTransport.SG mobile app for information on first and last train timings and estimated travel time.

About TEL

7        When fully opened, the TEL will be about 43km long with 32 stations.  It will serve approximately 500,000 commuters daily in the initial years, increasing to about one million commuters in the longer term.

8          Besides enhancing connectivity between the northern, central, and eastern parts of Singapore, TEL will strengthen the resilience of our rail network by providing alternative travel routes for commuters on other lines. As segments of the TEL runs parallel to the North-South Line (NSL), it will also help to reduce reliance and commuter load on NSL