City Hall MRT station

City Hall MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South and East West Lines in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is located near Stamford Road, on the junctions with North Bridge Road and Saint Andrew’s Road. The station opened on 12 December 1987 as part of a stretch from the Novena to Outram Park stations. Due to its location at the heart of the Civic District and the numerous landmarks within its vicinity, City Hall station is one of the busiest MRT stations in Singapore.

Not to be confused with City Hall station (Seoul) or City Hall station (IRT Lexington Avenue Line).
 NS25  EW13 
City Hall
政府大厦
நகர மண்டபம்
City Hall
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station
Exit B of City Hall MRT station with St Andrew's Cathedral in the background.
Location150 North Bridge Road
Singapore 179100
Coordinates1°17′35.66″N 103°51′7.99″E
Operated by SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation) (North South and East West Lines)
Line(s)
  North South Line
  East West Line
Platforms4 (2 island platforms)
Tracks4
Connections CC3  Esplanade
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
Platform levels2
ParkingYes (Raffles City)
Bicycle facilitiesNo
Disabled accessYes
History
Opened12 December 1987 (1987-12-12)
ElectrifiedYes
Previous namesSt. Andrew's[1][2][3]
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station
towards Jurong East
North South Line
towards Pasir Ris
East West Line
towards Joo Koon or Tuas Link
Location
City Hall
City Hall station in Singapore

City Hall station took its name from the national monument of City Hall, which is within walking distance from the station. Other landmarks in the area include Raffles City, the Padang, St Andrew's Cathedral and The Cenotaph. City Hall is connected to Esplanade MRT station via Raffles City and CityLink Mall.

History
Faregates at the station.

Prior to the building of the station, it was called St Andrew's. It was renamed to City Hall for historical significance reasons in 1984. On 4 May 1984, the contractor Nishimatsu-Lum Chang Joint Venture awarded the construction of the station where it began on June 1984 together with the tunnels to Bugis MRT station, under Contract 107B.[4][5] The construction of the tunnel between City Hall and Raffles Place stations was a challenge as it has to go underneath the Singapore River, which was still polluted at the time and made the soil acidic. An integral waterproofing system was then implemented for the tunnel, as the system is not to be affected by the acidic soil condition and should be an effective and fast system to avoid delay due to tidal condition.[6]

The station opened on 12 December 1987,[7] and later became an interchange station between the East West and North South lines after the operational split on 4 November 1989.[8]

Plans were announced by the LTA to construct a new underpass between the station and the redeveloped Capitol Singapore. Construction work on the underground link and the new station entrance started in the fourth quarter of 2014, and completed in the first quarter of 2015.[9]

Incidents

On December 10, 1985, a foreman died at City Hall MRT station.[10]

On June 5, 2008, 280 youths spent the night at City Hall to learn how to deal with an emergency in a train tunnel. There was a simulated bomb explosion during this exercise and they learn how to activate the detrainment ramps at both ends of the train, and evacuate to safety via an escape shaft. The students also used the items from their Ready Bags to "survive" the attack.[11]

This station was part of the series of 2011 MRT train disruptions on 15 and 17 December 2011, caused by a misalignment between the trains' current collector shoes, which collect power from the third rail, and the third rail itself. These were Singapore's two largest MRT disruptions at the time of occurrence.[12][13][14][15]

A power failure and blackout occurred at the station on 6 July 2012 at about 1.30 pm, causing the platforms for north and west-bound trains to turn pitch black. Air-conditioning and escalators also stopped functioning. Emergency lighting was turned on immediately after the incident occurred. However, train services were not affected by the incident.[16] Lighting was progressively restored from 2 pm, and was back to normal at 3.15 pm. All escalators have also been turned on. SMRT has apologised for any inconvenience caused.[17]

Station details
Track layout
Upper level (B2)
to Dhoby Ghaut
from Bugis
from Raffles Place
to Raffles Place
Lower level (B3)
from Dhoby Ghaut
to Bugis
to Raffles Place
from Raffles Place
Platform A, which serves the North South line trains.
Platform B, which is opposite platform A and serves the East West line trains.

The station is one of the five MRT interchange stations in Singapore to feature a cross-platform interchange; the other stations are Raffles Place MRT station, Tanah Merah MRT station, Jurong East MRT station and Bayfront MRT station. The station has two island platforms, one for each level, with four tracks. On each level, one platform serves the North South line and the other platform serves the East West line.

Public art

There is a mural along the wall of the station called Vitreous Enamelled Mural by Simon Wong. However, this art piece is not under the Art in Transit scheme.

City Hall is one of the four MRT stations to appear in the original and the "Uniquely Singapore Edition" of the board game Monopoly.[18] It was also mentioned in the 2009 film Whiteout.

Places of Interest

See also

References
  1. "Names for 42 MRT stations". Singapore Monitor. 20 September 1984.
  2. "New names for eight stations". Singapore Monitor. 30 November 1982.
  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. "Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Contract 107B City Hall Station | dedicated to Project Controls". www.planningplanet.com. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  5. "Lum Chang - Civil & Infrastructure". www.lumchang.com.sg. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  6. Outline of Cementaid HPI Used In Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit Railways. Cementaid. p. 7.
  7. Rav, Dhaliwal (12 December 1987). "Shopping for Xmas the MRT way..." Straits Times. Retrieved 19 September 2017 – via eResources.
  8. "New names for eight stations". Singapore Monitor. 30 November 1982.
  9. "Underpass to link City Hall MRT and Capitol Singapore". Today. 27 May 2014.
  10. Foreman died at City Hall MRT Station
  11. "280 youths take part in emergency exercise in MRT tunnel". Channel NewsAsia. 2008-06-06.
  12. Low, Ignatius (December 16, 2011). "Singapore's MRT Breakdown Chaos Leaves Thousands Stranded". The Straits Times. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  13. "MRT breaks down again". Channel NewsAsia. 2011-12-17.
  14. "North-South Line service resumes after 7-hour disruption". Channel NewsAsia. 2011-12-17.
  15. "Service disruption on North-South Line on 17 Dec 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-14.
  16. "Power blackout at City Hall MRT station". Channel NewsAsia. July 6, 2012.
  17. "City Hall MRT lights, escalators back on after blackout". Channel NewsAsia. July 6, 2012.
  18. "Singapore". World of Monopoly.com. 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
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