Bukit Panjang LRT to close an hour early Fridays to Sundays
From March 22 to June 30, rail services on the Bukit Panjang LRT (BPLRT) line will end an hour earlier, at 10.30pm, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
This is to allow more time to test new vehicles and systems that will be rolled out.
Affected commuters can take existing bus services that serve Bukit Panjang and Choa Chu Kang to carry on their journeys after 10.30pm.
These include bus services 67, 171, 920, 922, 960, 963, 972, 972M, 973, 974 and 976.
The BPLRT vehicles being tested include two new trains slated to enter service in the third quarter of 2024.
They are among 19 new trains that will replace the line’s first-generation vehicles that have been in service since 1999, when the BPLRT opened. Thirteen second-generation trains, introduced from 2014, are also being upgraded.
In announcing the early closures earlier in March, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said work to replace the line’s signalling system – which helps to direct rail traffic and keep trains a safe distance apart – is also progressing well.
Since March 16, dual-loop operations have resumed on the BPLRT on Saturdays from 11am to 1pm, and 5pm to 7pm.
Before this, during off-peak hours, the BPLRT was functioning only in a single loop on Service B from Petir station to Choa Chu Kang to facilitate renewal work, which began in 2018, to improve the line’s reliability.
Before the resumption of dual-loop services at selected hours on Saturdays, such services had been available only at peak hours on weekday mornings and evenings.
LTA had said it would monitor the performance of the BPLRT network, which is run by SMRT, before deciding on further extensions of dual-loop services to more off-peak hours.
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