Stage two of Downtown Line to open in December

The Straits Times reported that the 12 stations of stage two of the Downtown Line will open this December, as longer construction hours and more efficient work processes managed to make up the time lost when a key contractor went bust in 2013. Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew assured residents that their journeys to the city centre - now troubled by light-rail breakdowns and traffic congestion - would be eased by year end.

He credited the support of residents for longer construction hours as a key reason that works could catch up to the original schedule, which hit a snag when Austrian firm Alpine Bau filed for insolvency in June 2013. It was the main contractor for the three stations of King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) filed about $500 million in claims against Alpine, but Mr. Lui said he does not expect the outstanding claims or the expedited works to affect the project's budget. 

The journey time from Bukit Panjang to the financial district, which is now about an hour, will drop by 20 minutes with the Downtown Line, which has four interchange stations to link residents to the North-East, North-South and Circle Lines. 

Mr. Lui noted that the number of buses serving the route has doubled since it was introduced in 2013. And with the opening of stage two of the Downtown Line adding 50 percent more capacity to the public transport network in western Singapore, the strain on bus services should ease, he said.