CRL3 - Around the corner

Today, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) unveiled what is most likely to be some welcome news - pre-qualifications for Cross Island Line (CRL)'s phase 3 have opened. In total, there are 8 contracts up for pre-qualification, one likely being for the construction of a depot facility as indicated in the Qualification Criteria. This is likely to be contract CR301, going by past precedent of contract X01s being assigned for depot facilities - CR101 for Changi East depot, J101 for Tengah depot, T301 for the East Coast depot and T201 for Mandai depot.

Based on previous trends, where contracts involving the number '4' are avoiding following the unfortunate Nicoll Highway incident (contract 824), we presume that the 8 contracts will be:

1. CR301
2. CR302
3. CR303
4. CR305
5. CR306
6. CR307
7. CR308
8. CR309

Screen grab showing the published and closing dates of the pre-qualification exercise.

The pre-qualification rounds will close in October 2025, thus this does not shed light on when the line might be completed. However, it is possible to come up with some projections based on past precedence, the closest being the pre-qualifications for CRL2 and its subsequent official announcement and projected completion date. You might want to refresh your memory in our previous posts here - CRL2 pre-qualification begins & CRL2 announced. But we'll also lay it out for you here.

CRL2 timeline
Pre-qualification opens - 31 May 2022
Official announcement - 20 September 2022
Projected completion date of works - June 2032

For CRL2, there was a gap of approximately 113 days between the pre-qualification commencement to the line's official announcement. A calculation from 9 September 2025 to 113 days lands us on 31 December 2025. Thus, it is highly probable that we can expect an announcement of the CRL3 station locations within the year. Of course, timelines are flexible and may be shorter or could also drag longer. Nonetheless, the Acting Minister of Transport did mention the possibility of providing some good news by the year's end - watch his speech at the CRL2 Groundbreaking ceremony here.

From the CRL2 timeline, we can also see that the expected project delivery period stretches to almost 10 years from announcement to expected completion of works. The same can likely be expected for CRL3, bringing the projected completion timeline for the line to the mid-2030's, either in 2035 or 2036.

With the commencement of pre-qualification for phase 3 of the line, we're slowly inching towards an official announcement. Past indications have shown that this section of the line may have up to 5 stations along its length. Do let us have some time to gather our information and we'll be back with where we think these stations are most likely to be located.

This post will also be available on Instagram & Facebook on 10 September 2025.