CRL - A snapshot in July 2026

A compilation of the various sites across Phases 1 and 2 in July 2026.

With the announcement of the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s final phase on 31 July 2026, we now know that the line will stretch for 67km, making this line the longest in the country - beating out the East-West Line (EWL)'s record of 54km by a fair bit. This means that the CRL is a really big project, spanning end-to-end across the entire country. While the EWL also crosses the island from east to west, it mostly sticks to the southern section of the island. In comparison, the CRL swings further north and south than the EWL, making its route much more varied and spread out. This translates into it being much more difficult to easily visit and keep track of all contract sites.

For this update, we tried to cover as much ground as we could to give you an idea of where the line stands in progress. As phase 3 was only announced right at the end of the month, we won't be yet including that section in this update. Nonetheless, all the previous phases of the line that were officially announced are covered in this update in some way, form or manner. There's a lot to unpack, so jump right on in after the jump.

CRL3 - 4 more stations and a depot

 

31 July 2026

Phase 3 of the Cross Island Line (CRL) has been unveiled! The section stretches for 10km and will be served by 4 new stations and 1 additional depot that sits beyond the end of the line. There is no current fixed year - yet - for the section's completion other than a vague late-2030's. Realistically, this should sit about 10 to 11 years from now, putting the line's completion at around 2036 to 2037. Where are the stations? Why are there no names? We tackle these questions and more in this post on the final phase of the CRL. Oh, yes, this final phase also brings the CRL's total length up to 6-7 km.

CR151 - Preview of the CRL trains

 

31 July 2026 - The first two train sets for the Cross Island Line during the unveiling ceremony
at the Singapore Rail Test Centre.

Interior colours chosen from the online poll conducted during the public design consultation.
Cars 1 and 6 will feature light blue, Cars 2 and 5 will feature green & Cars 3 and 4 will feature
dark blue schemes respectively.

Today, SgMC was at the Singapore Rail Test Centre (SRTC). The visit was premised under the pretext of the Transport Minister's visit to view the testing of Cross Island Line (CRL) trains in Singapore. During his opening speech for the visit, the Minister also unveiled the alignment and locations of stations & depot for the final phase of the CRL. There will be a separate post on that. In this post, we'll tackle the things that we're sure you're eagerly awaiting for - the design features of the CRL trains. You may recall that the LTA had solicited for the public's opinion on certain design features for the CRL trains. We're bringing you along on this visit to the trains that were on display in static mode at the SRTC today.

Special thanks to Land Transport Authority (LTA) for the invite.

CRL3 / CR3018 - The future CRL western depot site?

 

25 July 2026 - A view of the contract CR3018 site.

We previously wrote on contract CR3018 for Earthworks and Associated Works at the former site of the Raffles Country Club in Tuas. In our post, we mentioned that the works may potentially be for site preparation of the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s western depot, given that land zoning in the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)'s masterplans have indicated that the site is zoned for use as transport facilities. Other bus-related infrastructure has not taken up such an extensive land space, which might suggest the use of the plot of land as the CRL's western depot. We take a look at the progress of works, given that the contract number for the site begins with the suffix 'CR', typically used on CRL contracts.

CRL1, CPE & CRL2 - Tunneling update for June

January 2026 - Factory Acceptance Test for contract CR203 tunnel boring machines in China.
Source: LinkedIn

June was quite a significant month for the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s tunneling works. Significant progress has been made along Phase 1 and along the Punggol Extension. We take a look at the some of the contracts where tunneling works made progress in the month of June.

CR151 - The first train arrives

Source: Land Transport Authority (LTA)

Today, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that the first Cross Island Line (CRL) trainset under contract CR151 had reached Singapore's shores. Upon arrival, the train will be transported to the Singapore Rail Test Centre (SRTC) in Tuas for testing & integration works. Similar tests were conducted there for the Circle Line (CCL)'s new batch of third generation trains under contract 851E. Did you manage to catch some of the details from the video that LTA put up? Here's what SGMC has uncovered after a closer look (after the jump).

CRL1 - A snapshot in April 2026

Overview of CRL1 stations CR4 - CR5 & CR8 - CR11 as at April 2026.
Top (L - R): CR4 - Pasir Ris East, CR5/CP1 - Pasir Ris,
Middle (L - R): CR8 - Hougang, CR9 - Serangoon North
Bottom (L - R): CR10 – Tavistock, CR11 – Ang Mo Kio

Last week, we took a look at the progress of the Cross Island Line (CRL)'s Punggol Extension. This week, we catch up on progress along CRL's phase 1 section, covering 6 contracts under the phase. Join us as we take a look at progress made from Pasir Ris East to Ang Mo Kio in this snapshot update of CRL1.