All you need to know about the North East Line

The North East MRT Line is Singapore’s third mass rapid transit line (NEL). The 20 km long route get run by SBS Transit and has 16 stations. It takes roughly 30 minutes to get from one end of this line to the other. The rail map’s color for this line is purple. The North-East MRT line connects the north-eastern region of the island to central Singapore. 

At the Chinatown and Little India stations, the East-West Line at Outram Park, the Circle Line at Serangoon, and the Dhoby Ghaut station, passengers can switch from the Downtown MRT Line to the North-South Line. In addition, the first line uses overhead wires above the track to power trains rather than a third rail next to the Railtrack. Any automated (computer-controlled) trains on the North East Line have no operator at the front. There are currently three such lines in the MRT network, making it one of the first rapid transit lines in the world without drivers. The Circle Line and the Downtown Line are the other two.

Rolling Stock:

• The rolling stock for the North East Line gets made up of six-car Alstom Metropolis C751A trainsets. Sengkang Depot is home to 25 trainsets in total, which get ordered as part of Contract 751A. Alstom constructs them in France between 2000 and 2001.
• To boost the North East Line’s capacity for the North East Line Extension, Alstom Metropolis C851E trainsets that operate in a six-car formation get ordered. For the North-East Line variation, a total of 6 trainsets get purchased. From 2020 onward, the trains will gradually supply to Singapore from Alstom’s manufacturing site in Barcelona, Spain.
• Alstom Metropolis C751C trainsets get ordered to increase the capacity of the North-East Line, which also operates in a six-car formation. A total of 18 trainsets get purchased as part of Contract 751C, and they get likewise stabled at Sengkang Depot. 

North-East Line Extension (Nele):

The North-East Line Extension (Nele), with a predicted start date of 2030, was first announced on January 17, 2013, to service the developing Punggol Downtown. On June 7, 2017, it revealed that the 1.6-kilometer expansion would include a single station, Punggol Coast, that would serve the Northshore District, Punggol Point District, Punggol Digital District, and the future campus of the Singapore Institute of Technology. Ong Ye Kung, the transport minister, announced on November 13, 2020, during a ceremony to celebrate the end of tunnel construction from the current Punggol station to the upcoming Punggol Coast station.

Technical Details:

The North-East Line is distinctive and uses 1500V DC overhead catenary wires to electrify. In Singapore, other MRT lines employ a bottom-contact third rail to get electrified at 750 V DC. Overhead catenary wires were replaced by overhead conductor rails on the NELe. For a potential future station between NE1 HarbourFront and NE3 Outram Park, the station code NE2 is unoccupied and reserved.