Singapore government to call tenders soon to replace and upgrade rail assets: Khaw

SINGAPORE government will soon call tenders to upgrade and replace ageing rail assets to improve the city-state's rail realiability, Khaw Boon Wan, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, said on Wednesday.

Mr Khaw, who is also the transport minister, told Parliament the tenders would include the upgrade of the North-South and East-West Lines' power supply system, and to replace the first-generation MRT fleet with 66 new trains.

For the North East Line, the ministry is working with SBS Transit to refurbish and upgrade their first-generation trains.

For the Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (LRT), it has started the process for its renewal.

"We target to call a tender this year for a complete replacement of its ageing components and an upgrade of its systems,'' Mr Khaw said.

The government is also acquiring the necessary tools and capabilities that would aid predictive maintenance for trains and tracks. These include new generation automatic track inspection systems and condition monitoring tools for real-time data collection and analysis.

On bus infrastructure, Mr Khaw said the government would be awarding the tender for the third bus contracting package at Seletar next month. Later this year, it will call the tender for the fourth package at Bukit Merah.

"With competition, bus operators are working harder to improve their service. This is good for commuters,'' he said, adding that over the next five years, the government is expecting to subsidise public bus services by some S$3.5 billion to S$4 billion.

As for the rail sector, it expects to spend S$4 billion over the next five years. This is on top of about S$20 billion it will be spending to build new public transport infrastructure, Mr Khaw said.

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