Accelerate MRT plans for Singapore’s west by 2035
Accelerate MRT plans for Singapore’s west by 2035
The Issue
We urge the authorities to accelerate plans for MRT connectivity in Singapore’s west:
- Complete the JRL's West Coast Extension line by 2030 (as MOT had originally proposed)
- Open the Tengah Line stations in the west by 2031 (e.g. in Tengah and Bukit Batok), to extend to the Greater Southern Waterfront by 2035
- Further extend the Jurong Region Line to connect to the Central Area by 2035 (e.g. interchanging at Orchard, Dhoby Ghaut, or Tanjong Pagar)
These authorities include Mr Jeffrey Siow (Acting Minister of Transport) and Mr Murali Pillai (Senior Minister of State for Transport). Singapore’s western region includes their wards of Bukit Batok (Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC) and Brickland-Tengah (Chua Chu Kang GRC), where transport connectivity is a top concern for the growing number of voters [1]. Every day, there are unhappy residents from the west struggling to commute. These residents have waited far too long for too little change, which is coming too late.
If this problem is left unresolved, there will be growing volumes of frustrated residents, particularly in Mr Siow’s ward. The success of Mr Jeffrey Siow's 'car-lite' Tengah town will be severely undermined, as the public transport there will be horribly insufficient - even with the recent bus services proposed. The unbearably long commutes for these western residents means much less productive time for them - time that they could spend being fruitful at work, relaxing at home, or pursuing healthy lives.
Moreover, there is an urgent need to relieve the load on the East-West Line, especially at Jurong East interchange. Already, Jurong East is a hot and harrowing chokepoint for commuters on a daily basis [2]. With more and more residents moving into Tengah Town and other parts of the west, the chokepoint will become far worse. And when the EWL is disrupted, Jurong East becomes the weak point that critically fails the residents of the west.
- During the infamous MRT breakdown of 2024, about 500,000 train journeys were affected every day for nearly a week [3]. The breakdown occurred only on the west side of the EWL, thus critically failing residents of the west.
- In comparison, the east side of the EWL railway was not disrupted by the breakdown. Even if it had been: in the east, there are already up to 5 operational MRT lines, running parallel to each other in some parts - to provide excellent transport resilience.
Transport in the west has been horrible for such a long time that it has been raised in Parliament as a key topic, by MPs from both the opposition and the ruling party.
- NCMP Leong Mun Wai justifiably compared the west to a ‘ulu hinterland’, due to its horrible transport connectivity [4]. He urged that more be done to improve transport for the west.
- MP Ang Wei Neng also urged the Government to boost transport in the west “as soon as possible” [5], to improve connectivity and provide some resilience for the under-served residents there. MPs Foo Mee Har and Rachel Ong had also voiced similar sentiments.
The plans that MOT has announced so far are too little, too late:
- The Jurong Region Line was announced to be ready by 2025 [6,7] and is now delayed by years. When it finally opens, the JRL will become the first MRT line that fails to touch the Central Area of Singapore - far, far from it. (Moreover, the JRL trains are designed to be much shorter, smaller, and slower than the other MRT lines.)
- The West Coast Extension was also proposed to be done by 2030 if feasible [7] - to connect JRL to the Circle Line. Instead, MOT now proposes that it be done by the 2040s - a puzzling delay of at least 10 years.
- The Tengah Line is also proposed to open in the 2040s at the earliest (if at all) [8]. This timeline is also puzzling, given that a similar rail line linking Tengah closer to Central Singapore was already outlined in URA’s 2001 Concept Plan [9].
- Mr Jeffrey Siow talked about new bus services to connect western residents to existing MRT stations [10]. However, these bus services may overlap with current buses and be subject to the same traffic congestion and slow speeds.
For many working adults living in the west now, they will only get to enjoy the West Coast Extension or the Tengah Line when they’re nearing retirement age. In the next 15 years or more, their commutes to work will continue to be terrible. Too little, too late. These deadlines are not - in Mr Ang’s words - “as soon as possible”.
Proposal to accelerate rail connectivity for the west, to make the transport situation slightly more bearable:
- Complete the West Coast Extension line by 2030 (as MOT had originally proposed)
- Open the Tengah Line stations in the west by 2031 (e.g. in Tengah and Bukit Batok), to extend to the Greater Southern Waterfront by 2035
- Further extend the Jurong Region Line to connect to the Central Area by 2035 (e.g. interchanging at Orchard, Dhoby Ghaut, or Tanjong Pagar)
This proposal is more than fair, with ample time for MOT to accomplish - given the long thinking time that MOT has already spent on similar plans, as well as the longsuffering wait of western residents. In comparison, the Thomson-East Coast Line was opened in 2020, only six short years after it was announced in 2014 [11]. This quick feat was accomplished, despite the TEL being a difficult underground line to build. And it was Mr Jeffrey Siow, then a public servant at MOT, who worked hard to make the TEL the “best MRT line” - in his own words [12]. Since then, the TEL has clearly benefited residents of the north and the east.
One of the ruling party’s slogans for GE 2025 was ‘East Side, Best Side’ [13]. I hope that the ruling party can commit to the proposal above, to bring some balance to the west. They can correct the perception that transport improvements are prioritised for constituencies with higher opposition vote shares.
***
References:
1 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/new-town-new-boundaries-tengah-goes-to-the-polls
4 https://mothership.sg/2024/10/west-not-some-ulu-hinterland-better-public-transport-leong-mun-wai
6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B9x-lEgdNU&t=102s
8 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/new-mrt-lines-tengah-seletar-transport-4977621
9 https://www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Planning/Long-Term-Plan-Review/Past-Long-Term-Plans
13 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ge2025-east-coast-plan-website-pap-5067211
131
The Issue
We urge the authorities to accelerate plans for MRT connectivity in Singapore’s west:
- Complete the JRL's West Coast Extension line by 2030 (as MOT had originally proposed)
- Open the Tengah Line stations in the west by 2031 (e.g. in Tengah and Bukit Batok), to extend to the Greater Southern Waterfront by 2035
- Further extend the Jurong Region Line to connect to the Central Area by 2035 (e.g. interchanging at Orchard, Dhoby Ghaut, or Tanjong Pagar)
These authorities include Mr Jeffrey Siow (Acting Minister of Transport) and Mr Murali Pillai (Senior Minister of State for Transport). Singapore’s western region includes their wards of Bukit Batok (Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC) and Brickland-Tengah (Chua Chu Kang GRC), where transport connectivity is a top concern for the growing number of voters [1]. Every day, there are unhappy residents from the west struggling to commute. These residents have waited far too long for too little change, which is coming too late.
If this problem is left unresolved, there will be growing volumes of frustrated residents, particularly in Mr Siow’s ward. The success of Mr Jeffrey Siow's 'car-lite' Tengah town will be severely undermined, as the public transport there will be horribly insufficient - even with the recent bus services proposed. The unbearably long commutes for these western residents means much less productive time for them - time that they could spend being fruitful at work, relaxing at home, or pursuing healthy lives.
Moreover, there is an urgent need to relieve the load on the East-West Line, especially at Jurong East interchange. Already, Jurong East is a hot and harrowing chokepoint for commuters on a daily basis [2]. With more and more residents moving into Tengah Town and other parts of the west, the chokepoint will become far worse. And when the EWL is disrupted, Jurong East becomes the weak point that critically fails the residents of the west.
- During the infamous MRT breakdown of 2024, about 500,000 train journeys were affected every day for nearly a week [3]. The breakdown occurred only on the west side of the EWL, thus critically failing residents of the west.
- In comparison, the east side of the EWL railway was not disrupted by the breakdown. Even if it had been: in the east, there are already up to 5 operational MRT lines, running parallel to each other in some parts - to provide excellent transport resilience.
Transport in the west has been horrible for such a long time that it has been raised in Parliament as a key topic, by MPs from both the opposition and the ruling party.
- NCMP Leong Mun Wai justifiably compared the west to a ‘ulu hinterland’, due to its horrible transport connectivity [4]. He urged that more be done to improve transport for the west.
- MP Ang Wei Neng also urged the Government to boost transport in the west “as soon as possible” [5], to improve connectivity and provide some resilience for the under-served residents there. MPs Foo Mee Har and Rachel Ong had also voiced similar sentiments.
The plans that MOT has announced so far are too little, too late:
- The Jurong Region Line was announced to be ready by 2025 [6,7] and is now delayed by years. When it finally opens, the JRL will become the first MRT line that fails to touch the Central Area of Singapore - far, far from it. (Moreover, the JRL trains are designed to be much shorter, smaller, and slower than the other MRT lines.)
- The West Coast Extension was also proposed to be done by 2030 if feasible [7] - to connect JRL to the Circle Line. Instead, MOT now proposes that it be done by the 2040s - a puzzling delay of at least 10 years.
- The Tengah Line is also proposed to open in the 2040s at the earliest (if at all) [8]. This timeline is also puzzling, given that a similar rail line linking Tengah closer to Central Singapore was already outlined in URA’s 2001 Concept Plan [9].
- Mr Jeffrey Siow talked about new bus services to connect western residents to existing MRT stations [10]. However, these bus services may overlap with current buses and be subject to the same traffic congestion and slow speeds.
For many working adults living in the west now, they will only get to enjoy the West Coast Extension or the Tengah Line when they’re nearing retirement age. In the next 15 years or more, their commutes to work will continue to be terrible. Too little, too late. These deadlines are not - in Mr Ang’s words - “as soon as possible”.
Proposal to accelerate rail connectivity for the west, to make the transport situation slightly more bearable:
- Complete the West Coast Extension line by 2030 (as MOT had originally proposed)
- Open the Tengah Line stations in the west by 2031 (e.g. in Tengah and Bukit Batok), to extend to the Greater Southern Waterfront by 2035
- Further extend the Jurong Region Line to connect to the Central Area by 2035 (e.g. interchanging at Orchard, Dhoby Ghaut, or Tanjong Pagar)
This proposal is more than fair, with ample time for MOT to accomplish - given the long thinking time that MOT has already spent on similar plans, as well as the longsuffering wait of western residents. In comparison, the Thomson-East Coast Line was opened in 2020, only six short years after it was announced in 2014 [11]. This quick feat was accomplished, despite the TEL being a difficult underground line to build. And it was Mr Jeffrey Siow, then a public servant at MOT, who worked hard to make the TEL the “best MRT line” - in his own words [12]. Since then, the TEL has clearly benefited residents of the north and the east.
One of the ruling party’s slogans for GE 2025 was ‘East Side, Best Side’ [13]. I hope that the ruling party can commit to the proposal above, to bring some balance to the west. They can correct the perception that transport improvements are prioritised for constituencies with higher opposition vote shares.
***
References:
1 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/new-town-new-boundaries-tengah-goes-to-the-polls
4 https://mothership.sg/2024/10/west-not-some-ulu-hinterland-better-public-transport-leong-mun-wai
6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B9x-lEgdNU&t=102s
8 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/new-mrt-lines-tengah-seletar-transport-4977621
9 https://www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Planning/Long-Term-Plan-Review/Past-Long-Term-Plans
13 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ge2025-east-coast-plan-website-pap-5067211
131
The Decision Makers
Petition created on 3 June 2025