page_title: Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)
section_title: Thomson–East Coast line
hierarchical_section_title: Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) / Future expansion / Thomson–East Coast line
context_page_description: The Mass Rapid Transit, abbreviated and referred to in local parlance as the MRT, is a heavy rail rapid transit system that constitutes the bulk of the railway network in Singapore, spanning—with the exception of the forested core and the island's rural northwest—the length and width of the city-state's main island. The first section of the MRT opened on 7 November 1987, and the network has since grown rapidly in accordance with Singapore's aim of developing a comprehensive rail network as the backbone of the country's public transportation system, with an average daily ridership of 3.384 million in 2019, approximately 83% of the bus network's 4.099 million in the same period.
  Singapore's MRT infrastructure is built, operated, and managed in accordance with a hybridised quasi-nationalised regulatory framework called the New Rail Financing Framework, in which the lines are constructed and the assets owned by the Land Transport Authority, a statutory board of the Government of Singapore.
context_section_description: The 43-kilometre (27 mi), 32 station fully underground Thomson–East Coast line is designed to connect the northern region of Singapore to the south, running parallel to the existing North South line passing through Woodlands, Sin Ming, Upper Thomson, and Marina Bay before turning east and running through Tanjong Rhu, Siglap, Marine Parade, and Bedok. It commenced operation starting with Stage 1 from Woodlands North to Woodlands South on 31 January 2020. The other four stages follow suit, with Stage 2 from Springleaf to Caldecott in 2020, Stage 3 from Mount Pleasant to Gardens by the Bay in 2021, Stage 4 from Tanjong Rhu to Bayshore in 2023 and Stage 5 from Bedok South to Sungei Bedok in 2024. The northern terminus of Woodlands North is expected to interchange with the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System to provide access to Johor Bahru and the future Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit. Founders' Memorial station is an infill station along Stage 4, but is scheduled to instead open in tandem with the Founders' Memorial in 2027. In addition, the line would be the first in Singapore to provide for only cashless transactions.
caption: Map of the Thomson-East Coast line