Goodbye Thomson Line Construction blog.

Created in October 2013, the blog was started to "track the construction progress of Singapore's Thomson MRT Line (TSL) stage 1 and stage 2", according to the blog's founders.

However, in what is likely to be its last blog post "Blog Closure", dated March 20, 2016, one of the blog's two authors explained that updating the blog with new posts has "been increasingly difficult to sustain with the obstinate attitude of the LTA (Land Transport Authority)".

This was after the author alleged that "the agency (LTA) begun aggressively issuing legal threats against the sub-contractors and workers whom have supported the blog with their kind contribution of pictures - all with the good intent of sharing greater details on the construction progress." LTA has responded to deny this statement.

In a criticism that will probably sting LTA's colleagues at the Smart Nation office, the blog's author also said that "LTA has shown an averse attitude to the idea of information sharing on a virtual stage, and displayed disinterest in any attempts of collaboration".

The author Nethanial Foo, whose name appear on the bulk of the posts on the blog, concluded that he would shut down the blog to concentrate on his studies "before subsequently carrying on with my career in the civil line."

Blog full of MRT construction information

The blog, which has over two hundred entries, is full of photographs and updates of the construction at various stations along the Thomson Line.

The blog even categorises construction projects belonging to Civil Teams 1 to 4 and also 22 stations on the Thomson Line.

Photographs of construction sites are largely aerial and likely taken by drones, such as the ones below:

Other photographs show tunneling work and the machinery used for such work.

The blog has so far garnered over 370,000 page views according to its site counter.

Aside from construction updates at each station, the blog also posts announcements such as a project achieving half-million accident-free man hours, posts detailing tunnel charts, as well as the makes and models of tunneling machines.

On its enquiries page, the blog also helps explain in detail why certain construction has to be carried out at night and what was being done to mitigate the noise produced.

LTA's response

Mothership.sg approached LTA to clarify the claims made by the blog, specifically about the claims of legal threats, LTA's disinterest in working with the blog and the implications of the photographs and information shared on the blog.

Here's LTA's full response from its spokesperson:

We refer to the false allegations by the Thomson Line Blog against LTA. It is not true that LTA “has begun aggressively issuing legal threats against the sub-contractors and workers”. LTA has not issued any legal threat to contractors in this regard.

LTA hosts information about our projects on our official website (http://www.lta.gov.sg). In addition, our official Facebook page (

also posts frequent updates of LTA projects. Members of the public are encouraged to refer to these official sources for updated information on all LTA projects.

When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited San Francisco in February this year, he said, "we must make engineering more attractive as a career in Singapore." Would blogs and passion projects such as this one not spark interest in engineering?

And not forgetting that Singapore's public service is big on the People, Public, Private approach to engaging stakeholders and dealing with issues.

This blog represents someone in the People sector who is a highly-engaged stakeholder and is in fact helping LTA -- the blog helps explain why some construction occurs at night during residents' rest hours.

Perhaps instead of allowing the blog to be closed and posts discontinued, LTA should engage the authors to see how best they can contribute to Singapore's transport story.

All images from Thomson Line Construction blog

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