You might be aware of the fact that the Thomson-EastCoast Line (TEL) section will open in the year2021 at Orchard MRT Station, butthe great news is that the work for passageway running below Orchard Boulevard is also inprogress so that commuters can enjoy uninterrupted transfers between TEL and North-South Line (NSL) platforms.
In a recent meeting, Land Transport Authority (LTA) revealed that this work is in progress without causing any inconvenience to the commuters at Orchard MRT Station and it doesn’t even cause any interference to the heavy traffic of Orchard Boulevard. In order to complete this project in such a disturbance-freemanner, they are making use of pipe roofing technology in which an underground canopy of some interlocked steel pipes is created around the tunnel with a diameter of around 1.2 meters. LTA’s deputy group director for Cross Island Line and Tel, Mr.Henry Foo, disclosed that this technique assists to keep work on progress without causing any trouble to the buildings and rood above the ground level.
These professionals made use of micro tunnel-boring equipment to design a tunnel underground where the pipes can be installed. Note that, these are almost 8 times smaller in size as compared to the regular pipes that were otherwise used for MRT tunneling. The interlocking process further helps to avoid breakage as well as misalignment of these pipes during underground installations.
Before starting with the canopy construction, professionals worked for stabilizing the ground level and also ensured prevention of water leakage in the tunnel. After this, they installed steel frame supporters to provide strength to this design. The mining task was completed by last December, andnow the work is in progress for the developmentof a permanentconcrete tunnel. Studies reveal that the mining and under piping processes are being completed with the help of special drilling machines that are able to drill in all directors with some confined space. The major target is to complete the work without disturbing the regular train services.
Some work will also be done at Orchard MRT station such as the installationof lift, escalators, andstaircase towards TEL platform. However, LTA has done proper planning with transport operator SMRT so that all the work can be completed only in after service hours, without causing any disturbance to the commuters.
One more pedestrian underpass is also under construction to develop a connection between TEL section of this interchange station to Wheelock Place Malls and Ion Orchard. Once the path for 43 km long TEL will be completed, there will be 31 stations between Sungei Bedok to Woodlands North. Professionals have planned to open it in three stages right from the next year. At first stage, they will open three stations – Woodlands South, Woodlands, and Woodlands North.
New Launch Condos in the Orchard district
