Teck Lee LRT station opens 19 years after it was built
Armed with a video camera, 18-year-old Mark Raphael Divina arrived at Teck Lee LRT station in Punggol at around 8.30am on Aug 15, the first day of its opening.
“I want to document this moment so I can share it on social media,” said the aerospace technology student, a train enthusiast who has been eagerly awaiting the station’s opening.
“If ever I study at the SIT Punggol campus, I may be using this station,” added the ITE College Central student, referring to the new Singapore Institute of Technology campus.
Teck Lee LRT station’s shutters rolled up just after 5am, almost 20 years after it was completed, as the authorities held off its opening until the surrounding area was developed.
It is the last stop to start operations on the west loop of the Punggol LRT line, which opened progressively from 2005.
It is about a four-minute walk along covered linkways to the business park in the Punggol Digital District (PDD) and SIT, which will move to its new campus in phases, starting from the latter half of 2024 to early 2025.
The station’s open-air platform is flanked by views of surrounding foliage, with landmarks like Safra Punggol, and One Punggol lifestyle hub.
At 8.30am, when The Straits Times was there, the station was quiet, with a few people milling around. Besides train enthusiasts like Mr Divina, these included commuters who worked nearby and residents visiting out of curiosity.
Ms Lee, who wanted to be known only by her surname, took the LRT to Teck Lee to try a new route to her workplace near the station.
After alighting and learning that the station was a 1km walk from her destination, she decided to return to Teck Lee LRT station to catch the train back to Punggol MRT station and take a bus to work, to avoid walking in the sun.
Ms Lee said she would be more likely to use the station to travel to work if there are shuttle services or sheltered walkways from the station to her workplace.
Punggol resident Yuen Kwok Weng, 32, visited the Teck Lee LRT station with his five-year-old son, who was eager to see it. “He wanted to come and see (the station), so I brought him,” said the security guard.
Retiree Albert Chng 72, who recently moved to Punggol, believes he will use the LRT station in future as the area “is starting to open up” and will see new developments in the coming years.
“It is a very nice place to walk around,” he said. “I intend to come here, walk around and jog back.”
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Janil Puthucheary, who is in charge of the Punggol Coast ward, said the station would improve transport connectivity in Punggol.
It would grant SIT students and people who go to the PDD access to a “whole spine of facilities” across the PDD, from commercial facilities to food and beverage and retail shops, added Dr Janil, who is also Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Health.
While Sam Kee LRT station is nearby, the Teck Lee LRT station provides an additional alternative for people to visit the area in different ways, he noted.
“We want multiple ways for people to come, so it is not just to have all the transport come to one chokepoint, but the design is such that we want to have different ways for people to come – whether you cycle, walk or take public transport.”
Teck Lee LRT station is expected to primarily serve surrounding developments like the PDD and SIT’s Punggol campus, which are expected to generate 28,000 high-tech jobs and accommodate 12,000 students respectively.
Projections for the station’s usage will be “in tandem with the developments around the area”, said Mr Jeffrey Sim, group chief executive of SBS Transit, which operates the Sengkang-Punggol LRT.
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