Work on Hume station could start in Q4 this year
While an unopened station on the Downtown Line is still officially slated to be completed in 2025, some have flagged the possibility that it could be up and running much earlier.
In a recent newsletter for residents of the Hume area in Bukit Timah, incumbent Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Low Yen Ling revealed that construction of the Hume MRT station could start in the fourth quarter of this year.
Going by this timeline, the station could potentially be completed before 2025.
But the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it "may be reviewing the construction timeline" because of the Covid-19 crisis.
It noted that the commencement date was subject to approval by various authorities and agencies.
"As announced last year, the targeted completion for Hume station is in 2025," said LTA.
HIGH-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL AREA
In the newsletter, Ms Low had flagged the possibility that Hume MRT station, located in a high-density residential area between Beauty World and Hillview stations, might start being built towards the end of this year.
Ms Low wrote: "We have worked tirelessly to turn Hume MRT (station) into a reality and will continue to see this project to its fruition."
A shell station (station structure) for Hume was completed in 2018. According to a veteran MRT contractor, converting a shell station to an operational station takes "between one and one-and-a-half years".
This potentially means commuters living in the area could look forward to using the station earlier than the 2025 deadline communicated by Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary last year.
He had said that by 2025, the population in the vicinity would have grown enough to warrant a station.
Ms Low, however, has been lobbying for the station to open earlier. She was unreachable for further comments for this report.
Residents in the area said the Hume station should have opened when the Bukit Timah stretch of Downtown Line started running in 2016.
Among them is Mr Patrick Sim, 55, who said: "It's long overdue."
Mr Sim, who is currently unemployed, said he was not convinced that the area did not have a critical mass of commuters.
"I think it's invalid," he said. "It's in the vicinity of many big condos."
These include Hume Park 1, Hume Park 2, Parc Palais, The Hillside and Hillview 128.
Human resource manager Andrea Low added: "We've been waiting for this station since (the) Downtown Line started running."
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