Bishan MRT station

Bishan MRT station is a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station along the North South line and Circle line in Bishan, Singapore, which the station is named after. It is located along Bishan Road. The name in turn is derived from the Cantonese term for large burial ground, Peck San Theng (Chinese: 碧山亭; pinyin: bìshāntíng), which literally translates as "pavilions on the green".[6] It was originally planned to name the station San Teng. Opened on 7 November 1987, Bishan station is one of the first five MRT stations on the network.

This article is about the metro station of the Singapore MRT. For the depot, see Bishan Depot. For the station on the Chongqing Rail Transit, see Bishan station (Chongqing Rail Transit). For the railway station, see Bishan railway station.
 NS17  CC15 
Bishan
碧山
பீஷான்
Bishan
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station
Exit A of Bishan station.
Location200 Bishan Road
Singapore 579827 (NSL)[1]
17 Bishan Place
Singapore 579842 (CCL)[2]
Coordinates1°21′04″N 103°50′54″E
Operated bySMRT Trains Ltd (SMRT Corporation) (North South and Circle lines)
Line(s)
  North South Line
  Circle Line
Platforms4 (1 island platform, 2 side platforms)
Tracks4
ConnectionsBus, Taxi
Construction
Structure typeSubsurface (North South line)
Underground (Circle line)
Platform levels2
ParkingYes (Junction 8)
Disabled accessYes
History
Opened7 November 1987 (1987-11-07) (North South line)
28 May 2009 (2009-05-28) (Circle line)
Rebuilt27 July 2008 (2008-07-27) (North South line southbound platforms)
22 May 2009 (2009-05-22) (North South line northbound platforms)
ElectrifiedYes
Previous namesKampong San Teng, San Teng [3][4][5]
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station
towards Jurong East
North South Line
towards Dhoby Ghaut
Circle Line
towards HarbourFront
Location
Bishan
Bishan station in Singapore

Located within the town centre area, it is connected to Bishan Bus Interchange and Junction 8. It is also in close proximity to other schools such as Raffles Institution and Catholic High School.

History

North South Line
The original North South line island platform in 2006
The platform in 2017, which now serves northbound trains only. The southbound tracks are behind the wall on the right, served by a newly constructed platform.

The Contract 103 for the construction of Teng MRT station was awarded to a Belgian and Singaporean joint venture on 16 December 1983. This $32,882,507 contract, the first involving cut and cover construction awarded by the MRT Corporation, also includes 3.2-kilometre (2.0 mi) of tunnels between San Teng MRT station and Braddell MRT station.[7] On 21 September 1984, the MRT Corporation renamed San Teng station to Bishan station to reflect the name of the new housing estate that was being built around this MRT station.[3]

Bishan MRT station was completed on 23 October 1985 and was one of the first MRT stations on the network to be opened for service on 7 November 1987.[8][9]

Circle MRT line
CCL platforms of Bishan station.

The Contract C825A for the design, construction and completion of Bishan interchange station was awarded to Econ Corporation Ltd and Eng Lim Construction Co Pte Ltd Joint Venture at a sum of S$82.2 million in July 2003.[10][11] Major alterations were performed on the original North South line station to be linked to the Circle line. A new air-conditioned southbound platform to serve the southbound trains (heading towards Marina South Pier) was officially opened by the then Minister for Transport, Raymond Lim on 27 July 2008.[12] The original platform is now dedicated to only northbound train services (heading towards Jurong East). A wall now separates the southbound tracks and the northbound platform, and southbound train doors no longer open on the right towards the old platform. The Circle line platforms were opened on 28th of that month along with the other CCL stage 3 stations.[13]

Due to the close proximity of a nearby tunnel portal to residential apartment blocks, the construction of a two-metre tall barriers stretching 180 metres in length started in September 2011 and was completed by the second quarter of 2012. It is insulated with noise absorptive materials such as rock wool.[14]

Incidents

On 28 July 2004, a 31 year old accountant died after falling on the track in front of an oncoming train at this station, disrupting train services on the northbound MRT line for an hour.[15][16] Another such incident happened to an elderly man on 15 September that year.[17]

On 7 October 2017, water got into a section of the tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations during a heavy downpour in the afternoon, which disrupted train services along 13 stations on the North South line for several hours. This case of water entering MRT tunnels is believed to be the first time it has affected train service along the NSL. Separately, at about 5.55 pm, a small fire was spotted trackside in the tunnel between the Marina Bay and Raffles Place stations, but it had died down by itself. It is not clear if it is linked to the flood, although electrical short circuits caused by water had sparked tunnel fires before.[18][19] Train services between Marina South Pier and Newton were restored on the day itself at about 9.20 pm. Train services between Newton and Ang Mo Kio were fully resumed at 1.36 pm the following day after overnight efforts to clear the water in the tunnel, after nearly 21 hours of service disruption, being one of the worst disruptions in SMRT Trains Ltd's history.[20] It was revealed that the overflowing in the tunnel was caused by a malfunction in the water pumping system, which has since been repaired.[21]

During the coronavirus epidemic in Singapore, a Singaporean female worker at Bishan MRT station was infected with the virus.[22]

Station details

Art in Transit
Track layout
for NSL platforms
to Ang Mo Kio
to Braddell

The Circle line section of this station displays the Art in Transit artwork Move!. There are three murals created by Soh Ee Shaun depicting landmarks that residents of the Bishan area identify with.[23]

Cultural impact

Being located on the former site of the Peck San Theng cemetery, the station is rumoured to be haunted, and has been the subject of several Singaporean urban legends, as well as the site for alleged ghost encounters. A 1988 article in The New Paper mentioned rumoured sightings of headless ghosts at the station.[24]

The Sunday Times ran an article debunking an urban legend associated with the station, along with an article featuring an account by a passenger who claimed that, while riding on a train passing through the station one morning in the early 1990s, she was groped by several unseen hands before passing out. She was later revived by fellow passengers.[25] There are also other alleged encounters of ghosts and other entities by several passengers in and around the station, such as headless figures, footsteps coming from the roof of the train, and phantom passengers who do not cast reflections on the train windows.

gollark: No you can't.
gollark: That's not true.
gollark: Palaiologos is unsomethingly an authoritarian dictator.
gollark: Continue rotating parallel to electroapiomagnetic fields, in general.
gollark: Further evidence of palaiologos bad, yes.

References
  1. "Location View of 200 Bishan Road, 579827". www.streetdirectory.com. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  2. "Bishan (MRT Station) - 17 Bishan Place (S)579842". www.streetdirectory.com. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  3. "Six stations are renamed and others moved". The Straits Times. 21 September 1984. p. 10. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  4. "Names for 42 MRT stations". Singapore Monitor. 20 September 1984.
  5. "New names for eight stations". Singapore Monitor. 30 November 1982.
  6. Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics – A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
  7. "Two MRT contracts worth $96m awarded". The Straits Times. Singapore. 16 December 1983.
  8. "All aboard for the Subway Age". The Straits Times. 8 November 1987. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  9. "NORTH-SOUTH LINE". www.lta.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  10. "Projects - Rail". www.lta.gov.sg. 5 Aug 2008. Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  11. "Award Of Contracts For Stage 3 Of Circle Line". www.lta.gov.sg. 31 July 2003. Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  12. "New Platform at Bishan Station ready". The Straits Times. 26 July 2008.
  13. "Circle Line to open 2 days ahead of schedule, fares identical to NEL". Channel NewsAsia. 2009-04-16. Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  14. "LTA to study noise levels along elevated MRT tracks". Channel NewsAsia. 2011-06-14. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  15. "Bishan MRT Death". The New Paper. 29 July 2004.
  16. Teck Hian, Wee (29 July 1994). "Death at Bishan Station disrupt services". TODAY.
  17. "MRT incident hits services". TODAY. 16 September 2004. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  18. "Water in the tunnel, trackside fire caused train disruption on NSL: SMRT". Channel Newsasia. 8 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  19. "NSL disruption: Train services between Ang Mo Kio and Newton will not be available until earliest Sunday". The Straits Times. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  20. "NSL disruption: No train services between Ang Mo Kio, Newton 'till further notice', says SMRT". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  21. "NSL disruption: Malfunctioning water pumping system resulted in flooded MRT tunnel, says LTA". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  22. Iau, Jean (2020-05-19). "Woman who went to work at Bishan MRT station among two new coronavirus cases". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  23. Massot, Gilles (2020-04-07). "Getting Around - Public Transport - A Better Public Transport Experience - Art in Transit". LTA. Archived from the original on 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  24. Abdul Hadhi (17 October 1988). "Where are the ghosts?". The New Paper. p. 3. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016 – via NewspaperSG.
  25. Mun San, Mak (17 April 2005). "Is Bishan MRT 'unclean'?". The Straits Times. p. 4. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016 – via NewspaperSG.
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