We have just learnt that tunneling works for contract CR106, responsible for the construction of Loyang station and connecting tunnels to Pasir Ris East station, have been completed. The westbound (WB) tunnel boring machine (TBM) successfully docked with the Loyang station box earlier this month. This follows the earlier docking of the eastbound (EB) TBM in January this year. With the latest completion, approximately 16 of the 29 tunnel drives for phase 1 have now been completed.
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR2 - CR5, CR8 - CR10 & CPE station CP4 as at February 2026. |
It's been a while since we've had a Snapshot update for the Cross Island Line (CRL). Here's one from February 2026, covering several of the sites across Phase 1 and Punggol station along the Punggol Extension. How have works progressed, especially at the line's eastern end? We find out all that and more in this update after the jump.
Another tunnel that has recently been completed along the Cross Island Line's (CRL) phase 1 section is the eastbound tunnel under contract CR106. This contract will be responsible for the construction of Loyang station and tunnels connecting to neighbouring Pasir Ris East station. Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are being used for the construction of the tunnels, with the launch shaft constructed under contract CR107, next to the Pasir Ris East station before being handed over to contract CR106.
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| CRL1 tunnel chart as of end-2025, to the team's best knowledge. |
Tunneling works along the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s phase 1 have been progressing well, thanks to the favourable soil conditions in the eastern side of the island. Soil here is typically composed of old alluvium, great for tunneling as seen through the quick work made of tunnels under several contracts of late.
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| August 2023 - A view of the displays within the CRL1 Project Information Centre. The display on the left shows the Soil Profile along the CRL1. |
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| A screenshot of the Soil Profile along CRL1. Source: CRL1 Virtual PIC |
With the favourable Old Alluvium in Eastern Singapore, here are some updates on tunneling work across CRL1.
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR4 - CR12 as at October 2025. |
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Overview of CPE stations CP2 - CP4 & CRL2 stations CR16 - CR19 as at October 2025. |
It's been a while since we've done such an extensive coverage of the Cross Island Line (CRL) across its three current phases that have been announced thus far, hence we thought we'd let October be our month of diversity. Updates for this month stretch from Pasir Ris East all the way to Punggol & Jurong Lake District. If you've been curious on how things were progressing, this post is for you. Do be ready, this update's kind of MEGA.
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR3 - CR10 as at August 2025. |
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| Overview of CRL1 station CR11 & CRL2 stations CR17 - CR19 as at August 2025. Top (L - R): CR11 – Ang Mo Kio, CR207 - Launch shaft Middle (L - R): CR17 - Clementi, CR18 - West Coast Bottom (L - R): CR210 - Launch shaft, CR19 - Jurong Lake District |
Roughly about three-quarters into the year, how has progress been along the Cross Island Line? We take a closer look at some of the key sites along the line in both phases 1 and 2 in this August look-back.
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Overview of CRL1 works under contracts CR106 - CR117 as at July 2025. |
There's a fair bit to update in this snapshot of the Cross Island Line (CRL) for July 2025. This update will mainly focus on progress along phase 1 of the line, the section with the most progress thus far due to the section's earlier announcement, contract award and commencement in general. Nonetheless, tunneling is also underway across all announced phases thus far, so we will touch a little on the progress made on that front thus far. All this & more after the jump.
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| An overview of CRL1 contracts CR101 - CR111 as of May 2025. Top (L - R) : CR101 - Changi East Depot, CR102 - Tunnels, CR103 - Aviation Park station Middle (L - R) : CR106 - Loyang station, CR107 - Pasir Ris East station, CR108 - Pasir Ris station Bottom (L - R) : CR109 - Tampines North station, CR110 - Large bored tunnel, CR111 - Defu station |
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| An overview of CRL1 contracts CR112 - CR117, CPE contracts P102 & P103 and CRL2 contract CR202 as of May 2025. Top (L - R) : CR112 - Hougang station, CR113 - Serangoon North station, CR115 - Tavistock station Middle (L - R) : CR116 - Ang Mo Kio station, N109A - Teck Ghee station, CR117 - Bright Hill station Bottom (L - R) : P102 - Elias station, P103 - Cripple siding, CR202 - Large bored tunnel |
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| An overview of CRL2 contracts CR205 - CR211 as of May 2025. Top (L - R) : CR205 - King Albert Park station, CR206 - Maju station Middle (L - R) : CR207 - Tunnels, CR208 - Clementi station, CR209 - West Coast station Bottom (L - R) : CR210 - Tunnels, CR211 - Jurong Lake District station |
It has been a while since we've done a snapshot feature of the Cross Island Line (CRL), with our last being done in February for the Punggol Extension. Part of this stems for the works being "less noticeable", since the majority of this takes place underground and relatively out of sight. Another part is that it also appears that updates on the CRL aren't as popular compared to updates on other lines (granted, the above ground line updates are A LOT more interesting as you actually see things change with most monthly updates). Nonetheless, we thought it's time to see where the CRL is in progress with this rather comprehensive mid-year update.
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| An overview of 2 CRL1 contracts as of August 2024. Top: Changi East depot Bottom: Contract CR110 launch shaft at Paya Lebar Air Base |
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR3 - CR11 as of August 2024. |
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR12 – CR13, CPE stations CP2 –
CP4 & CRL2 stations CR15 – |
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Overview of CRL1 contracts CR102 - CR115 as of July 2024. |
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Overview of CRL1 contracts CR116 & N109A, CPE contracts P102 - P103 & CRL2 contracts |
July was a momentous month for the Cross Island Line (CRL). All civil contracts for the construction of stations across phases 1, 2 and the Punggol extension were awarded. Along phase 1, several contracts were in the midst of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) assembly and subsequent launch as well. In this update, we take a brief look at the progress made across the line's first few phases.
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| Tunnel Boring Machines of Cross Island Line Phase 1. Top (L - R) : Contract CR102, Contract CR106 Middle (L - R) : Contract CR105, Contract CR115, Contract CR110 Bottom (L - R) : Contract CR109, Contract CR116 |
Tunnel Boring Machines, also known as TBMs, have been described as mechanical moles or earthworms that dig through the ground, leaving behind hollow concrete tubes through which trains eventually run. These huge machines often work their way along the future MRT lines, most members of the public unaware of their existence right beneath them.
TBMs used on previous MRT projects were huge at approximately 6.3m in diameter. The ones used on the Cross Island Line (CRL) are even bigger, owing to the extra space required to run an additional rail supplying the trains with power along the top of the eventual tunnel. These will measure at around 7.22m for single tube tunnels that carry one track and 12.66m for large diameter tube tunnels that carry several tracks within.
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR4 - CR7 as at May 2024. |
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR8 - CR11 as at May 2024. |
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR12, CR13, CR15 & CR17 as at May 2024. |
Another week, and another month goes by. We're now clearly heading towards the middle of the year with June underway. Here's a look back at the progress made at the various Cross Island Line station sites in May 2024. There's a bit more to see now that some of the Tunnel Boring Machines are in the ground and beginning their boring journeys through the east to construction the line.
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| Overview of CRL1 stations CR4 - CR13 as of April 2024. Top (L - R): CR4 - Pasir Ris East, CR5 - Pasir Ris, CR6 - Tampines North Middle (L - R): CR7 - Defu, CR8 - Hougang, CR9 - Serangoon North Bottom (L-R): CR10 - Tavistock, CR11 - Ang Mo Kio, CR13 - Bright Hill |
We're pretty much done with April of 2024 - what a quick first third of the year it has been! Things are quickly becoming serious over along the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s first phase of 12 stations stretching from Aviation Park to Bright Hill with tunnel boring machines (TBMs) being delivered to site and lowered into launch shafts, station box excavation starting and bored piling continuing. We'll do a brief overview of the CRL1 stations as of the end of April 2024. More after the jump!
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Overview of CRL1 stations CR3 - CR13 as at mid-to-late February 2024. |
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Overview of CPE & CRL2 stations CP02 - CP04 & CR15 - CR18 as of mid-to-late February 2024. |
The first few months of the year have quickly past and we're slowly getting back into the monthly routines. Here's a snapshot update of the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s various stages of construction for the month of February with work started on phase 1 and the Punggol Extension. The latest phase announced - phase 2 - has also begun early works which we also explore in this update.
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| 10 stations of the Cross Island Line's phase 1 as at end-2023. Aviation Park & Defu are not represented in this post. |
Sorry this post was a little delayed - got caught up between travelling & work. But we're here and made it to 27th December after all. For this post, we're covering the 10 stations that we have the most pictures of along the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s phase 1. The 2 stations not covered in the post today are Aviation Park and Defu. We may cover them at a later time. Nonetheless, it has been an eventful year for the CRL with the groundbreaking ceremony being held in January 2023. Construction has been well under way at all sites with work in full swing for the construction of the earth retaining & stabilising structures (ERSS). Several intermediate launch shafts have been built as well and excavation commenced at a few sites in particular.
Please be fair warned that this post is a mega-post and extremely photo-heavy. It may suck up a lot of your bandwith after the jump.
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Top (L - R): CR105 - Large diameter tunnel, CR3 - Loyang, CR4 - Pasir Ris East |
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Top (L - R): CR11 - Ang Mo Kio, CR12 - Teck Ghee, CR13 - Bright Hill |
Here's a look at the progress made at the various Cross Island Line (CRL) sites across Phases 1, 2 & the Punggol Extension in October 2023.
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| 29 August 2023 - Operating hours as displayed on the site office hoarding. |
Recently, the Cross Island Line (CRL) phase 1's Project Information Centre (PIC) has been opened to the public. Operating hours for the PIC are during weekdays during office hours. Do note that you will need to get in touch with the Public Relations Officer to secure a slot before heading down so that the PIC will be manned during your visit. Not doing so may result in disappointment should the officer be engaged and unable to open the centre for you. Nonetheless, the team paid a visit to the PIC today and are here to relay what you can find once you are there.
Telegram groups have become the new means through which the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has digitised its outreach to stakeholders with new rail projects. The messaging platform has been used as a uni-directional channel through which circulars and updates on the various construction contracts are pushed out to residents, businesses and commuters in the area where construction works are taking place. The first wide-spread adoption was undertaken by the Circle Line Stage 6 (CCL6) project and subsequently adopted by the Jurong Region Line (JRL) as well. It appears that the Cross Island Line (CRL) is using this as well. We attempt to consolidate the links for you to join the Telegram channels as well, which have been rolled out for CRL1 and CPE sections, for which all civil contracts have been awarded thus far. It is assumed that the same will follow for CRL2 once the contracts have been awarded and for CRL3 in due time as well.
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| 30 March 2023 |
Under contract CR106, a section of Loyang Avenue between Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Loyang Way was closed on 26 February 2023 to facilitate the construction of Loyang Cross Island Line (CRL) station and a vehicular viaduct on top. Since the closure in late February 2023, the work site has been cleared of trees and heavy equipment had moved in.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today uploaded a new video showing a flythrough of the upcoming Bright Hill station, the western terminus for the Cross Island Line (CRL) phase 1 which is due to open in 2030. An interchange station with the existing Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), provisions were made during the former's construction to allow paid linkways to connect to the future station and also for the future line's tunnels to cross over the existing station structure. We've extracted several screenshots from the flythrough video after the jump for your browsing pleasure. Additionally, we have also collated some other videos that LTA has posted up since our last update in March. All are available after the jump.
