T302 - Founders' Memorial update Q1 2024

 

9 March 2024 - Founders' Memorial station buildings seen in the evening. About 95% of the
Gardens by the Bay - Bay East has since been hoarded up for the development of the
Founders' Memorial.

Contract T302 for the construction of Founders' Memorial station has about wrapped up with the station buildings illuminated at night and very little work being carried out. The site has slowly seen machinery and other heavy equipment being vacated and the roadways and parking lots reinstated above the station. Unfortunately, the majority of the Gardens by the Bay - Bay East park has been hoarded off for the construction of the Founders' Memorial development, making it impossible to get close to the completed station buildings without trespassing.

TEL 4 & 5 - A snapshot in March 2024

A compilation of images of TE23 to TE31 stations in March 2024.
Top (L - R): TE23 - Tanjong Rhu, TE24 - Katong Park, TE25 - Tanjong Katong
Middle (L - R): TE26 - Marine Parade, TE27 - Marine Terrace, TE28 - Siglap
Bottom (L - R): TE29 - Bayshore, TE30 - Bedok South, TE31 - Sungei Bedok

It's exactly 3 months to go till the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL)'s phase 4 section opens. This section of the line will bring rail service to an area that has long been in need of a rail connection but had to rely on bus services only, despite the relatively short distance to the Central Business District and Marina Bay areas. Nonetheless, the section of the line is about to open and we check in on the progress of the stations in the lead up to their official opening for revenue service - including the 2 stations along phase 5 whose opening has been pushed back a year to 2026 instead.

TEL 4 & 5 - A snapshot in February 2024

 

An overview of TEL4 & 5 stations TE23 to TE31 in early-February 2024.
Top (L - R): TE23 - Tanjong Rhu, TE24 - Katong Park, TE25 - Tanjong Katong
Middle (L - R): TE26 - Marine Parade, TE27 - Marine Terrace, TE28 - Siglap
Bottom (L - R): TE29 - Bayshore, TE30 - Bedok South, TE31 - Sungei Bedok

Last month was pretty busy with getting the year started. As such, we weren't able to do up a Snapshot for January 2024 and that's why we're doing the February one slightly earlier. Without further ado, here's the first consolidated update of the line section since our 2023-year end update!

TEL4 & 5 year-end update 2023

The 10 stations along the East Coast section of the Thomson-East Coast Line as at end-2023.

 2023 has been an eventful year that has seen the completion of most stations along Phase 4 of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) and the continued work on the stations along Phase 5. With Phase 4 due to come online next year, testing has been underway for some time before the section is handed over to operator SMRT to conduct staff familiarisation and training sessions. While most of the Phase 4 stations are on target with construction, some have sections that still require more work to be done before they can be completed and ready for the temporary occupancy permit (TOP) inspection. We take a look back at 2023 in this final post for TEL of the year.

TEL 4 & 5 - A snapshot in September 2023

 

An overview of TEL stations TE22A to TE25 in September 2023.
Top (L - R): TE22A - Founders' Memorial, TE23 - Tanjong Rhu
Bottom (L - R): TE24 - Katong Park, TE25 - Tanjong Katong

An overview of TEL stations TE26 to TE29 in September 2023.
Top (L - R): TE26 - Marine Parade, TE27 - Marine Terrace
Bottom (L - R): TE28 - Siglap, TE29 - Bayshore

An overview of TEL stations TE30 & TE31 in September 2023.
Top: TE30 - Bedok South
Bottom: TE31 - Sungei Bedok

Here's a brief update of the status of the 10 stations being built under the East Coast section of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) under phases 4 and 5 of the line.

T302 - Founders' Memorial update Q2 2023 & GBME Shaft

 

2 July 2023 - An aerial view of the contract T302 work site for Founders' Memorial station.

During the release of images by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) phase 4 stations, contract T302's Founders' Memorial station was omitted from the update. This is likely due to the fact that Founders' Memorial was originally intended to be a shell station for fit out at a later stage. As such, its full construction was brought forward to tie in with the opening of the memorial. In lieu of an official update, we bring to you an interim update from July 2023 - sufficiently near enough to June to be considered as a late Q2 2023 update. As an added bonus, we're also covered the Gardens by the Bay Marina East escape shaft in this post.

T302 - Founders' Memorial Q1 2023 update

 

23 March 2023

Founders' Memorial station is a bit of a peculiar one, being planned with the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) stage 4 under contract E1003, but as a shell station box akin to that of Tagore on TEL2. Initially, the contract T302 called for the "Construction of Facility Building and tunnels for the TEL". Nonetheless, the station is on its way to being fully built out. Featuring 2 exits on either end of the station, work is progressing with the concrete structures completed. Equipment is being installed at both exits, with the northern exit also doubling up as a cooling plant.

T302 - 2022 Year end update

 

25 November 2022 - An aerial view of the station site.

03 December 2022

Founders' Memorial station was a late addition to the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) phase 4, having been planned initially as the Gardens Bay East shell station. It was announced for a full fit out on 7th January 2019 for revenue service commencement at a yet to be announced date. These works would enable trains to run through the station without stopping and the station to be able to open with minimal additional work, much like Mount Pleasant and Marina South stations on the neighbouring phase 3 section that was recently opened.

T302 - Founders' Memorial update

An aerial view of the Founders' Memorial station site.

Another aerial view of the station site.

On National Day, we conducted a virtual tour on the SG MRT Construction (SgMC) Instagram channel. During the tour, we covered several stations along the Thomson-East Coast Line and we'll be featuring some additional shots that we hadn't showcased on the Instagram channel during the tour.

TEL East-Coast section newsletter

 

Newsletter for Thomson-East Coast Line. This covers this sector
from Founders' Memorial up to Siglap.
Source: LTA

Over National Day, we held a virtual tour where we visited several station sites along the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) stages 4 and 5. Along the way, we saw some newsletters being displayed at nearby residential enclaves that updated on some of the construction progress. Do check out the images of the newsletter that we managed to obtain.

Construction progress at T302

As the Land Transport Authority (LTA) recently announced the addition of Founders' Memorial station, it was mentioned that the construction of the new addition would begin in 2019. This statement was misleading as Founders' Memorial station was being partially constructed as an interim facility building as a future, unopened station on the line under contract T302. It was subsequently added that this would be done by converting a planned facility building into an operational station.

Details of contract T302.
Source: LTA

Gardens Bay East renamed to Founders' Memorial

We have previously touched on a station located between Tanjong Rhu and Gardens by the Bay stations on the East Coast stretch of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), known as station E1 during the planning stages of the Eastern Region Line. The then working name of the station was Gardens Bay East, which has now been officially renamed as Founders' Memorial today, as announced by the Land Transport Authority.

Line alignment and structure

Recently, we came across some information and would like to present to you a graphic representation of the East Coast Line's alignment. Also provided is information that shows how the line will be built.

Source: LTA
The layout of the East Coast Line alignment. This diagram shows the locations of the stations, launch shafts as well
as areas where there will be cut-and-cover works. The number of TBMs are also indicated as well as locations
of stacked tunnel configurations. In addition, there are 2 temporary staging areas (TSA) that will be used for trackworks.

Also listed below is the full number of contracts and the expected TBM drives from the shaft at Gardens by the Bay East, under the Thomson Line section, to Sungei Bedok station.

Expected tunnel drives under East Coast Line contracts

Tender schedule

The Thomson-East Coast Line was announced last August by Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew. In keeping to the timeline for construction to commence in 2016, tenders are expected to be floated this year and placed up for bids. The pre-qualification for bidding of the contracts was floated late last year. Here is a list of the expected release of the respective contract tenders:

Contract Number	Expected timeline for tender being called
T301 – Depot	2015 Quarter 2
T302 – Station E1 + tunnels	2015 Quarter 2
T303 – Tanjong Rhu (station E2)	2015 Quarter 2
T305 – Katong Park (station E3) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 2
T306 – Amber (station E4)	2015 Quarter 3
T307 – Marine Parade (station E5) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 1
T308 – Marine Terrace (station E6) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 2
T309 – Siglap (station E7)	2015 Quarter 3
T310 – Bayshore (station E8) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 2
T311 – Bedok South (station E9) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 3
T312 – Sungei Bedok (station E10) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 3
T313 – Xilin (station DT36) + tunnels	2015 Quarter 1
T315 – Tanah Merah modification	2015 Quarter 3

We have also sorted the table according to quarter for easy reference.