Proposed Seletar MRT line could offer Sengkang, Serangoon residents quicker route to Johor Bahru: Analyst

SINGAPORE: The proposed Seletar MRT line could extend as far as Woodlands North, and offer residents in areas like Sengkang and Serangoon a quicker route to Malaysia via the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, said a transport analyst. 

At the same time, the tentative Tengah Line would provide an alternative rail line for those in the west, and ease demand on the ageing East-West Line. 

The proposed lines were announced by Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat in parliament on Wednesday (Mar 5). Mr Chee said that the lines, pending feasibility studies, could serve more than 400,000 households and be operational in the 2040s. 

The Seletar Line could serve areas such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Sengkang West, Serangoon North, Whampoa, Kallang and the Greater Southern Waterfront. 

The Tengah Line could serve locations such as Tengah, Bukit Batok, Queensway and Bukit Merah. These potential rail lines could meet at the Greater Southern Waterfront, and feasibility studies will look into the possibility of linking the two lines into a single line. 

Associate Professor Raymond Ong said that based on the proposed alignment of the Seletar Line, it could serve as a “major connecting point from Singapore to Johor Bahru”. 

“If we look at the Seletar Line, we see that in the northern part, we are seeing the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, and we have the RTS there,” said the deputy head of research and enterprise at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

He said that the two lines that serve the Woodlands area close to Johor Bahru are the North-South Line (NSL) and the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), with Woodlands North on the TEL being linked to the RTS Link. 

“The NSL is getting old, and (whether the TEL has) enough (capacity), we are not too sure,” he said. 

He added that the TEL also goes through “a different kind of estate profile” as the proposed Seletar Line that could connect Sengkang and Serangoon to Johor Bahru. 

TARGETING UNDERSERVED AREAS

Residents in parts of Yishun, Admiralty and Sembawang that are currently far from the NSL are likely to benefit from the Seletar Line, said Associate Professor of Economics at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Walter Theseira. 

“There are also likely to be further developments in that area that would be connected by the line,” said Assoc Prof Theseira. 

Likewise, current and future developments such as at the west of Sengkang and Punggol, as well as the east of Woodlands, Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio, that are underserved by rail lines, could stand to benefit, said Assoc Prof Ong. 

“There will be a point where (these developments) converge, and that is where the Seletar Line comes in,” he said. 

“The trend of (new developments) in Sengkang, Punggol going west, and Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh going east, that trend will continue.” 

But what could come first, the new developments, or the new train lines? 

Assoc Prof Theseira said that this is an “open question”. 

“It's common now that we build the line in advance of the developments, and fit out the station only when the developments are realised, (such as with) Bukit Brown and Mount Pleasant stations,” he said. 

“So there is no need for one to wait for the other.”

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE EAST-WEST LINE

For the Tengah Line, estates that could be served include Bukit Merah and Queensway, which are some of Singapore’s oldest HDB estates, with projects built since the 1960s. 

Assoc Prof Ong said that by the 2040s, when the proposed line is slated to open, these flats could be already over 70 years old. 

“We do not know what the future plans for these estates are, and if let’s say there is a redevelopment, we are going to move from a less-dense development to a much more heavily dense development,” he said. 

For instance, older, shorter, HDB flats will likely make way for 30 to 40 storey projects. 

“If this is the case, then the travel demand will increase, (and) the question will be, can the East-West Line (EWL) take it? If it can’t, then obviously we need to have an alternate way to carry the demand, and that’s where the Tengah Line becomes useful,” he said. 

He added that an additional line would also reduce the damage to the EWL by lessening its passenger load, and allow the ageing line to undergo more extensive maintenance, such as by ending passenger service earlier to do so. 

“It frees up the opportunity to really look at how to better improve the services or maintenance on the EWL,” he said. 

The Tengah Line could also be a boost to residents of its namesake, but Assoc Prof Theseira said that given the “long planning horizon” of the line, the current residents of Tengah may not necessarily benefit from it, as it would be completed “far beyond their minimum occupancy period”. 

In the meantime, the Jurong Region Line, which connects Tengah Residents to the EWL, will be fully open by 2029. 

WHY CONNECT AT THE GREATER SOUTHERN WATERFRONT? 

The proposed connection of both lines to the Greater Southern Waterfront checks out, analysts said, as it is a key development area at the city fringe. 

“It makes sense that (the Greater Southern Waterfront) is supported by greater MRT connectivity, especially since city area and city fringe developments are expected to have less parking and less reliance on private car use,” said Assoc Prof Theseira. 

At the same time, it is likely that these new lines will also offer interchange points at a few city fringe or city area MRT stations to allow for access to the city, he added.

COULD MORE LINES MEAN HIGHER FARES? 

With more lines comes an increase in operating costs overall, and so it is also likely that the operating cost per passenger would also go up, said Assoc Prof Theseira. 

This is because with more rail alternatives, the ridership per seat kilometre will fall, which means trains will be less crowded. 

“In the end, it comes down to what you get when you pay your fares,” he said. 

“We can run a system with low operating costs and fares, but it will be a very crowded system that only serves the highest demand corridors.” 

But this would leave out Singaporeans who do not live near these high-demand corridors, he said. 

“Or, we can run a system that caters to a larger number of Singaporeans, and which offers better quality in the sense of shorter commute times and more comfort, but that costs more,” he added. 

Assoc Prof Theseira said that having more travel taken up by taking the MRT instead of surface transport would allow Singapore to free up more above ground land, making for “a better living environment”. 

“It's clear that for the country, this is a better way to go, as long as we can pay for it,” he said.