June 16, 2017
In the planning area of Tuas in the West Region of Singapore, an open house was held for a newly completed addition to the East West line (EWL) of the sovereign island country’s high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. The EWL’s Tuas West Extension (TWE) covers 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) altogether and contains a total of four stations. Construction on this extension had begun on May 4, 2012.
Singapore’s English-language newspaper Today highlighted the opportunity for the public to visit the newest segment of the MRT before it began regular operations. This newspaper announced, “A host of games and activities have been organized for Friday’s open house, which includes free train rides along all four stations — Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link — of the TWE from noon to 8 p.m.”
Hundreds of people of people turned out for this preview of the TWE. A dedication ceremony for the extension took place at the Tuas Link MRT Station, which is featured in the above photo. Those on hand for this ceremony included Ng Chee Meng in his role as Singapore’s second minister for transport. During his remarks, he hailed the TWE as a “significant engineering achievement.”
Along with being EWL’s western terminus, the Tuas Link MRT Station is the westernmost transit facility of its kind in all of Singapore. The Tuas Link MRT Station also has the distinction of being Singapore’s only station with a concourse above its platforms.
The TWE formally went into regular service two days after the open house. This extension has been the most recent addition to date for the EWL, which encompasses a total of 35.5 miles (57.2 kilometers) and 35 stations.
Photo Credit: ZKang123 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on the East West line of Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit system, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_West_MRT_line
Transportation History 
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