By lyndamyer
Following the prosperous implementation of innovative engineering solutions, the third stage of a new metro line in Singapore has opened to the public.
While the Thomson East Coast Line will extend 43km in total, the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA’s) Thomson East Coast Line stage three (TEL3) is a section of this line with 13km length.
Providing commuters with a quicker and more direct connection to the city center, TEL3 welcomed passengers on 13 November 2022, with its 11 stations now open.
In order to presenting the detailed design and construction support for a 6km long bored tunnel section of the route, infrastructure consulting firm Aecom provided LTA with consultancy services.
Additionally, design and construction support for five underground stations are the other contents of this contract. This covered two interchange stations, threading through a high-end residential area to Singapore’s main shopping belt at Orchard, starting from Stevens station, through Orchard Boulevard, Orchard, Great World City and ending at Havelock station.
Also Aecom oversaw further underground works such as pipe roofing, shaft sinking, tunneling and underpinning below residential houses as well as a nine-storey high-rise building.
According to Yi Yng Jee’s not on the opening of the new line Aecom’s Singapore country representation: “Today is a proud day at Aecom. A project of this scale and complexity requires technical excellence and trusted partnership in equal measure, and we achieved exactly that. The completion of the Thomson East Coast Line Stage 3 is a testament to how innovative engineering solutions, coupled with excellent planning and strong relationships with our client and contractors, can result to major breakthroughs, better outcomes in interconnectivity and accessibility for the riding public in Singapore.”
Jee also added: “We worked with the client to overcome engineering challenges posed by the site during the design and construction stage, one of which required performing undercrossing, a technique used for the first time by the LTA.”
As part of stage three of the scheme, work on a new metro station and associated tunnels at Orchard Station was completed by Bachy Soletanche in 2019.In order to delivering this project with S$498M (£305M) value, Bachy’s local business had a five years collaboration with Bessac, Soletanche Bachy International and Aeco, whereas they used a retractable tunnel boring machine to construct innovative umbrella arches to minimize disruption.
Moreover, the experience of using ground freezing technique was successfully delivered in 2018 by LTA at the Marina Bay Station, as part of stage three.
On stage four of the Thomson East Coast Line scheme, a joint venture between Bachy Soletanche Singapore and Wai Fong Construction has worked on the contract for a key station box and 1km of cut and cover tunnels. All design work for the permanent structures was undertaken by Mott MacDonald.
In 2016, the S$294M (£180M) contract, which was one of three awarded contracts by the LTA for the project, was granted for Tanjong Rhu station and tunnels. In the meantime, the 2024 is scheduled date for presentation of the stage four.
