Article: Completing the Circle (Singapore)

[colinw]

Railway Gazette International -> Click Here

25 October 2011

SINGAPORE: The 33·3 km Circle Line was completed with the opening of stages four and five between Marymount and HarbourFront on October 8, adding 17 km and 12 stations to the driverless metro line.

The line is operated using 'medium capacity' three-car trains, with SMRT Corp expecting to be carrying 400 000 passengers/day within nine months.

The CCL has taken 10 years to build at a cost of S$8bn. The 5·7 km first stage with five stations opened in May 2009, while the second stage began running in April 2010. Although not forming a complete circle, the CCL provides an orbital route enabling passengers to move between radial lines while avoiding the busiest interchanges.

A 2·3 km Circle Line Extension branch is under construction between Promenade and Marina Bay, where it will provide an interchange with the North-South Line from 2012.

400,000 passengers per day projected, and with only 3 car 'medium capacity' trains.  Do that with your stupid Busway!  Let's not hear any more of this talk about the busway being at metro levels, ok?  A real metro exceeds the capacity of a busway by a significant margin.

[SurfRail]

400,000 passengers per day projected, and with only 3 car 'medium capacity' trains.  Do that with your stupid Busway!  Let's not hear any more of this talk about the busway being at metro levels, ok?  A real metro exceeds the capacity of a busway by a significant margin.

What's really telling is that these are only short consists.

At that capacity we are only talking about 16-17,000 per hour per direction.  The SEB could probably do that with all door boarding, 100% pre-pay and 3-4 door vehicles (be a bit of a struggle, but certainly not impossible).

But - how scalable is that for the SEB?  Not very.  SMRT could extend platforms and double train lengths if needed...

[colinw]

Furthermore, think how many buses and bus drivers the busway would need to do the job.

The Circle Line trains, on the other hand, are fully automated based on a CBTC UTO signalling & control system. (CBTC UTO = Communications Based Train Control - Unattended Train Operation).

[O_128]

Furthermore, think how many buses and bus drivers the busway would need to do the job.

The Circle Line trains, on the other hand, are fully automated based on a CBTC UTO signalling & control system. (CBTC UTO = Communications Based Train Control - Unattended Train Operation).

That's the big one, a busway carrying 15k + per hour is ridiculous and very staff and bus demanding.

[somebody]

400k/day?  That's 1/5 of the population of Brisbane!  It's hard to imagine a line in Brisbane which might be used twice a day by 10% of the population.

I think this is where the density argument comes in.