East–West Line closures from 29 November to 8 December for upgrade works between Bedok, Tampines and Expo

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has reminded commuters that key sections of the East–West Line (EWL) will be closed from 29 November to 8 December 2025 to facilitate major rail upgrading works.

The affected stretch covers the segments between Bedok and Tampines stations, and between Tanah Merah and Expo stations.

During this period, Simei and Tanah Merah MRT stations will be closed, resulting in no train service along the affected track segments.

According to LTA, the closures are required to allow works to connect the existing EWL tracks to the upcoming East Coast Integrated Depot.

LTA added that the project also involves linking a new platform at Tanah Merah station.

In October, the authority estimated that about 180,000 passengers may be affected daily during the 10-day adjustment.

Crowds are expected at the surrounding stations and bus stops, and journey times may lengthen by as much as 30 minutes.

Train frequencies on the remaining operational parts of the line will also be reduced.

Trains will run every five minutes between Tampines and Pasir Ris, and every eight minutes between Paya Lebar and Bedok.

Services between Expo and Changi Airport will operate at five-minute intervals during peak periods.

To support commuters, LTA will provide two shuttle bus services.

• Shuttle 7 will run between Bedok and Tampines at intervals of three to five minutes.
• Shuttle 8 will connect Bedok and Expo with frequencies of about 10 minutes.

Passengers travelling from the east are encouraged to consider public bus routes that connect to other MRT lines, including the Downtown Line.
LTA noted that these alternative routes may offer shorter travel times during the closure.

Commuters are advised to plan ahead and monitor the MyTransport.SG mobile app for real-time updates.

Information will also be available via LTA and SMRT social media channels.

SMRT will deploy staff at affected stations to guide passengers and manage crowd flow.

Information posters and brochures detailing recommended travel alternatives can be found at all MRT stations and passenger service centres.

LTA stated that passengers who must travel through the affected EWL stations should consider alternative MRT routes where feasible.

The authority stressed that these planned closures are essential to improve long-term reliability and safety.

Singapore to introduce longer MRT closures as ageing rail network requires major upgrades

On 19 November, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said that commuters should expect more scheduled closures in the future.

He noted that extended periods of downtime are now required as shorter maintenance windows from early closures or late openings are no longer sufficient for major upgrade projects.

Siow emphasised that allowing more dedicated engineering time will help complete complex works more quickly and safely.

He said that while maintenance is scheduled within a 3.5-hour nightly window, deployment and extraction of heavy equipment leave only about two hours of effective working time.

According to his remarks, this is barely sufficient for routine tasks and leaves little room for major upgrade works.

His comments follow recommendations from a recently formed rail reliability task force, which called for extended closures on parts of the network.

MRT Reliability Falls in September

Singapore’s MRT network recorded a second month of declining reliability, based on data released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 14 November.

The latest figures showed trains travelled an average of 1.67 million train-km between delays lasting more than five minutes from October 2024 to September 2025.

This represented a decline from the 1.74 million train-km recorded between September 2024 and August 2025.

LTA said the figures were derived from the 12-month moving average of mean kilometres between failure, adding that the measure captures the distance a train travels before experiencing a delay of more than five minutes.