The six-station Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) stage two is getting ready to be open to commuters in the third quarter of 2021, the Land Transport Authority said on April 30.

This comes about a year after it was initially scheduled to open.

Travelling time to be cut for many

Some 100,000 households in Springleaf, Lentor, Mayflower, Bright Hill, Upper Thomson and Caldecott will be within a 10-minute walk of one of the nine stations along stages one and two of the TEL.

The six-station TEL has been handed over to operator SMRT, with all civil and structural works for the stations completed.

The new line will bring time savings to commuters.

Sin Ming residents travelling to Republic Polytechnic, for example, will have their travel time cut from 50 minutes to 25 minutes.

More stations to open in next three years

Following this handover of stations from LTA to SMRT, emergency-preparedness exercises will be carried out.

Woodlands North, Woodlands and Woodlands South -- three TEL stations -- were opened in January 2020, but stage two of the line was delayed due to Covid-19.

Another 23 stations on the TEL should open by 2024.

Singapore is expanding its rail network to about 360km by 2030.

The Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line are the other lines under construction.