NSL no longer missing NS6 station as LTA announces 3 new stations linking DTL and NSL, opening 2035

Have you ever noticed that there isn't a station NS6 on the North-South Line?

Currently it jumps from NS5 (Yew Tee) to NS7 (Kranji):

Nearly 30 years after the Woodlands Extension was opened for passenger service, the mystery of station NS6 on the North-South Line has been solved: Singapore’s Land Transport Authority released plans on Jan. 6, 2025 to construct a station between Yew Tee and Kranji, and connect it to the Downtown Line.

Three new stations will be up and running by 2035, allowing the Downtown Line (DTL) to link up with the North-South Line (NSL).

It will dramatically cut the time it takes for those living in the west to get to the CBD.

Can you count to three?

The link-up will consist of two new DTL stations, currently named DE1 and DE2, with the latter station being an interchange station with the new NS6.

Currently, the DTL terminates at Bukit Panjang station. Commuters can travel onwards using the Bukit Panjang LRT to get to Choa Chu Kang station along the NSL.

The Downtown Line Extension 2 (DTL2e) was initially announced in 2019, but LTA has finally revealed the configuration of the new extension.

The DTL2e will be about four kilometres long, travelling in a northwestern direction.

New stations

The first of the new stations after Bukit Panjang station will be an underground station at Sungei Kadut Avenue, next to the Rail Corridor.

The site until recently had several low-rise industrial buildings and is located across a canal from Yew Tee Village.

The station will connect to nearby homes via a pedestrian link bridge and a vehicular bridge with a covered linkway and cycling path.

The DTL will continue on until it meets with the NSL along Sungei Kadut Central, in Sungei Kadut industrial estate, where two new stations, DE2 and NS6 will be built.

DE2 will be an underground interchange station, and NS6 will be a new aboveground NSL station, in between Yew Tee station in the south and Kranji station, in the north.

It also puts to bed a decades-long question as to why Yew Tee and Kranji were named NS5 and NS7 respectively, and what area the hypothetical NS6 would serve.

Rail connectivity

LTA expects that the new stations will “enhance rail connectivity” in the north-west of Singapore, allowing access to new neighbourhoods such as Yew Tee Village, as well as the Rail Corridor and Pang Sua Park Connector, and “improve rail network resilience” in the area.

The extension will give commuters in the area a new way to reach the downtown area, previously having to go north to change to the Thomson-East Coast Line in Woodlands or transferring to the East-West Line at Jurong East.

LTA said that they expect commuters to experience significantly shorter journey times, estimating that a commuter travelling from Yew Tee Village to Chinatown will be able to do so in 20 minutes, rather than the 40 minutes it currently takes.

Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the stations are expected to open by 2035.

The DTL2e’s Environmental Study, which involved engagement and consultation with nature groups, has been completed.

The construction project will implement an Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan and will take mitigation measures, such as providing a wildlife corridor along the Rail Corridor to allow animals to continue moving.

The plan will also allow for the regular monitoring of sensitive habitats by ecologists.

Upon completion of the extension, the DTL will have 39 stations, including Hume station in the west of Singapore, due to open in 2025; and Xilin and Sungei Bedok stations in the East, the latter of which connect with the Thomson-East Coast Line.

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Top image via LTA