Friday, January 31, 2020

Opening of First 3 Stations of Thomson East-Coast Line

Today is the opening day of the first three stations of Thomson East-Coast line.  The first three stations are Woodlands North, Woodlands, and Woodlands South.  From 31 Jan to 2 Feb, 2020, the public can enjoy free travel among these 3 stations. 


I entered Woodlands Station and found a long tunnel to the entrance. 


The station design is very much similar to the circle line.  The station is spacious and well-lit.  During the free-travel period, you will find all the gantries show an X, just ignore that, as the gantries are open, you can just walk in, without tapping your fare card.


The platform is quite big as well.  I didn't do an actual count, but it seems like the length of the platform/train is comparable to that of North-East Line and East-West Line.  I think they have learnt a lesson from circle line and North-East Line.  The trains are too short on these two lines and the trains are always crowded during rush hours. 


The trains look very much like the new trains on NS/EW lines.  At the moment, the frequency is not very high.  It is about once every 7 minutes.  I hope they will increase the frequency when the entire line is open. 


I took the train to Woodlands North.  Woodlands North station has a modern design, and it is very spacious.  I went out of the station, but I was not too sure where I was.  There is nothing much outside.  Woodlands North has been planned as the connection point for the future MRT linking Singapore and Johor Bahru.  With the change of government in Malaysia, that probably will be a very very distant future project. 

Well, that's my experience on the first day of Thomson East-Coast Line.  There were not many people traveling on this line yet, but I hope with its opening, we will see more prosperity along the line.