Raffles Place MRT station

Raffles Place MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the East West Line and North South Line in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is located directly underneath Raffles Place, Singapore's financial district, south of the Singapore River. Due to its location, it is one of the busiest MRT stations on the wider MRT network.

 NS26  EW14 
Raffles Place
莱佛士坊
ராஃபிள்ஸ் பிளேஸ்
Raffles Place
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station
Station exit of Raffles Place station
Location5 Raffles Place
Singapore 048618
Coordinates1°17′1.97″N 103°51′5.52″E
Operated by SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)
Line(s)
  North South Line
  East West Line
Platforms4 (2 island platforms)
Tracks4
ConnectionsBus, Taxi
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
Platform levels2
ParkingYes (External)
Bicycle facilitiesYes (External)
No (Inside station)[1]
Disabled accessYes
History
Opened12 December 1987 (1987-12-12)
ElectrifiedYes
Previous namesCentral[2][3][4]
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station
towards Jurong East
North South Line
towards Pasir Ris
East West Line
towards Joo Koon or Tuas Link
Location
Raffles Place
Raffles Place station in Singapore

It is close to several points of attraction such as the Raffles Place Park, Merlion Park, the Downtown Core and the Fullerton Hotel.

History

On 9 October 1983, local ventures had won the MRT job for the construction of the tunnel from City Hall to Raffles Place.[5] On the larger scale, on 4 May 1984, the contractor, Taisei-Shimizu-Marubeni had awarded the contract for the station, Contract 108. To make way for the construction of the station, the Chartered Bank Building was torn down. During the construction, massive rocks were blasted out of the way for the station, which shook several buildings near the station.[6] This station used to be the largest and deepest MRT station in Singapore,[7] but the record has since been broken multiple times, first by Dhoby Ghaut in 2003, then by Bras Basah in 2010, by Promenade in 2013 and then by Bencoolen in 2017, which is currently holding the record at 43 metres below ground. In 1998, some foreigners who could not find accommodation in Singapore were caught staying overnight in the station, and were regarded as loiterers.[8] It is also one of the four MRT stations to appear in "Uniquely Singapore Edition" of the board game Monopoly.

Land reclamation in the Marina Bay area has added more exits to additional buildings since 2000, which is Exit J towards the Marina Bay Link Mall.

The station is the only MRT station to ever participate in three terrorist exercises, which are Exercise Northstar IV on 11 January 2004, Exercise Northstar V on 8 January 2006 when it was one of four stations which participated in the exercise on that day, as well as Exercise Northstar VII in 7 July 2009, together with Sentosa, VivoCity, Bedok, Tampines, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong East.

The faregates at this station were replaced in 2014. The oldest station entrances A and B were heavily renovated by 28 September 2017 with glass cladding.

On 7 October 2017, a small fire was spotted along the trackside in the tunnel between Marina Bay and this station, but it died out by itself. Its cause is unknown, but it may have been due to a short circuit.[9][10]

Due to the ongoing renovation works at Oxley @ Raffles, which is formerly Chevron House, barrier-free accessibility is restricted to Exit D instead.

Station details and appearance
Track layout
Upper level (B2)
to City Hall
A
B
from Tanjong Pagar
from Marina Bay
Lower level (B3)
from City Hall
C
D
to Tanjong Pagar
to Marina Bay
Platform C of Raffles Place which serves the East West line trains
Platform D of Raffles Place, which serves the North South line trains and is just opposite Platform C

Raffles Place station is one of the five MRT interchange stations in Singapore to feature a cross-platform interchange; the other stations are City Hall MRT station, Tanah Merah MRT station, Jurong East MRT station, Bayfront MRT station. The station has two island platforms, one for each level, with four tracks. On each level, one platform serves the North South line and the other platform serves the East West line. It is within walking distances to Downtown MRT station and Telok Ayer MRT station on the Downtown Line.

Places of Interest

References
  1. "SMRT > Trains > NetworkMap > RafflesPlace". www.smrt.com.sg. SMRT. Retrieved 7 June 2017. Station Amenities
  2. "Names for 42 MRT stations". Singapore Monitor. 20 September 1984.
  3. "New names for eight stations". Singapore Monitor. 30 November 1982.
  4. "Six stations are renamed and others moved". The Straits Times. 21 September 1984. p. 10. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  5. Local ventures had won MRT job for construction
  6. "Shudders from MRT work". The Straits Times. 21 May 1985. p. 8.
  7. "Largest MRT station". The Straits Times. 8 July 1986.
  8. "Raffles station becomes Raffles 'hotel' for seven". The Straits Times. 22 November 1988. p. 20.
  9. "Water in the tunnel, trackside fire caused train disruption on NSL: SMRT". Channel Newsasia. 8 October 2017.
  10. "NSL disruption: Train services between Ang Mo Kio and Newton will not be available until earliest Sunday". The Straits Times. 7 October 2017.

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