‘Target is for most S’poreans to live within 10 mins of a train station,’ PM Wong says Gov’t to invest $60B in rail network

SINGAPORE: As he rolled out the Budget for this fiscal year, one of the items Prime Minister Lawrence Wong talked about was Singapore’s transport sector, focusing on the Government’s goal of building a sustainable city in response to growing environmental concerns.

“Our target is for eight in 10 households to be within a 10-minute walk of a train station,” he said, adding that the Government is investing more than $60 billion in this decade to expand and renew Singapore’s rail network, which he said forms the backbone of the city-state’s public transport system. Singaporeans can look forward to the new Jurong Line and the extensions to the Thompson East-West Line, the Downtown Line, and the Circle Line.

“We will continue to study how our rail network can be expanded,” said Mr Wong. An efficient mass transport system is an important part of Singapore’s sustainability goals as it would help keep the country car-light, he added.

Mr Wong, who is also the Finance Minister,  stated that the Government is investing close to $1 billion to increase and enhance bus services under the Bus Connectivity Enhancement programme.

Other allocations towards adapting to climate change that the Prime Minister announced are as follows:

• A $5 billion top-up to the Coastal and Flood Protection Fund
• A new Heavy Vehicle Zero Emissions Scheme and Electric Heavy Vehicle Charger Grant to accelerate adoption of clean heavy vehicles
• A new Additional Flat Component of road tax to be phased over three years from 2026 onward for electric heavy goods vehicles and buses
• $400 Climate Vouchers (including a $100 top-up) for all HDB households
• $400 Climate Vouchers for all Singaporean private property households

The planned enhancements to the country’s railway system are likely to reassure many Singaporeans who have expressed dissatisfaction over disruptions in train services.

Earlier this month, there were three such disruptions in five days, which led to delays in train services. The Land Transport Authority said on Feb 13 that rail safety and reliability are among its key priorities, and added that it took a “serious view” of the incidents on the North-South Line (Feb 7), North East Line (Feb 10), and Circle Line (Feb 11).  Last year, services on the East-West Line were disrupted from Sept 25 to 30, one of the longest such incidents in Singapore’s history.

Featured image: Facebook screengrab/SMRT.

/TISG

Read also: LTA assures the public it’s looking into the root causes of this week’s disruptions, but many Singaporeans call for better train maintenance