Chinatown MRT Station

NE4  DT19  Chinatown MRT Station 牛车水地铁站 சைனாடவுன் Stesen MRT Chinatown rapid transit
North East Line platform of Chinatown station, with chinese calligraphy on the floor as are part of the Art in Transit Scheme
Station statistics
Address	151 New Bridge Road Singapore 059443
Coordinates	1°17′05″N 103°50′38″E / 1.28485°N 103.844006°E / 1.28485; 103.844006
Lines	North East Line   Downtown Line (under construction)
Connections	Bus, Taxi
Structure	Underground
Levels	3 (1 U/C)
Platforms	Island (North East Line) Side (Downtown Line)
Tracks	4 (2 U/C)
Other information
Opened	20 June 2003 (North East Line) Opening 2013 (Downtown Line)
Accessible
Code	NE4 / DT19
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station Outram Park towards HarbourFront North East Line Clarke Quay towards Punggol Telok Ayer towards Bukit Panjang Downtown Line (under construction) Stage 1 Fort Canning towards Expo
Location

Chinatown MRT Station (NE4/DT19) is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North East Line and upcoming Downtown Line in Singapore. On the North East Line, it lies between the Outram Park and Clarke Quay MRT stations and between Telok Ayer and River Valley on the Downtown Line. It is directly below and serves the district of Chinatown. The construction of the station was considered an engineering achievement, due to the busy traffic on the roads above and a number of nearby historical buildings that had to be preserved during the construction.

Location

Located in the heart of Singapore's Chinatown, there are many cultural buildings surrounding it. There are also Chinese calligraphy paintings in the station, titled The Phoenix’s-Eye Domain, the significance of Chinatown and is painted by renowned Singapore artist Tan Swie Hian.

History

Provisions were made during the initial construction of this station for connection with future lines, which will serve developments in the New Downtown area, especially the integrated resort. The station will be an interchange with Stage 1 of the future Downtown Line, with the connecting station and tracks built under and perpendicular to the current station, beneath Cross Street.^[1] A new entrance and exit structure will be built near Hong Lim Complex as part of the Downtown Line station addition. Construction for the Downtown Line station commenced on 12 February 2008. Like Dover, Braddell and Bishan MRT Stations, the Downtown Line station will have side platforms.

Before the station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Farrer Park, Serangoon and Hougang stations.

Construction

This station is said to be the most challenging station to build on the North-East line, due to the large number of buildings above ground, most with reinforced concrete or timber piles and all in marine clay.^[2] Another feat was that they had to preserve Garden Bridge, a large overhead bridge on bore piles, while building the station below. The tidal Eu Tong Sen canal was also diverted into four two-meter diameter steel pipes slung under the temporary traffic decks (two on each side). Rigorous safety precautions ensured there were no fatal accidents during the construction.

Station layout

The main entrance and exit of the station is situated in the middle of Pagoda Street within the heart of Chinatown, which is now closed to all automobiles but remains open to pedestrians and manual vehicles such as trishaws. One could note that the modern architecture of the station entrance could provide an uneasy contrast to the Victorian era shophouses surrounding it, although some may like the cultural fusion.

L1	Street Level
B1	Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing Machines, Passenger Service Centre
B2	Platform A	North East Line towards  NE1  CC29  HarbourFront (→)
	Island platform, Doors will open on the right
	Platform B	North East Line towards  NE17  Punggol (←)

Services

Chinatown station acts as an interchange between MRT rail and a multitude of bus routes.

Train service

Destination	First Train				Last Train
	Mon - Sat		Sunday & Public Holiday		Daily
North East Line
to NE1 HarbourFront	6.09am		6.29am		11.54pm
to NE17 Punggol	6.05am		6.25am		12.00am
Downtown Line
to DT14 Bugis	-		-		-

Bus services

The following bus services serve the bus stop outside New Bridge Centre (near Exit A) along New Bridge Road:

Bus Stop Code: 05049 (Chinatown Point)
Service	Destination	Note
SBS Transit Trunk Services
2	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
12	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
33	Kent Ridge Bus Terminal
54	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
143	Jurong East Bus Interchange
147	Clementi Bus Interchange
SBS Transit Chinatown Direct Services
CT8	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
CT18	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
CT28	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
SMRT Buses Trunk Service
190	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal

The following bus services serve the bus stop outside People's Park Complex (Exit C) along Eu Tong Sen Street:

Bus Stop Code: 05022 (People's Park Centre)
Service	Destination	Note
SBS Transit Trunk Services
54	Bishan Bus Interchange
124	Saint Michael's Bus Terminal
145	Toa Payoh Bus Interchange
147	Hougang Central Bus Interchange
166	Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange
SMRT Buses Trunk Services
190	Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange
851	Yishun Bus Interchange

Gallery

• 

  The entrance to Chinatown station at street level, which lies in the middle of Pagoda Street in the heart of Chinatown which is now closed to automobile traffic

• 

  An illustration, inspired by Chinatown MRT, particularly by Pagoda Street in Singapore

References

1. ^ "Chinatown Station". Land Transport Authority. http://www.lta.gov.sg/images/chinatown_station.jpg. Retrieved 2008-04-07. 
2. ^ Other Rail Projects - North East Line, Land Transport Authority