01 February 2022 - Rebar visible above the hoarding for Jurong Region Line's viaduct piers.
We'd like to wish all our readers a Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year! May each of you be blessed with bountiful fortune in the year of the Tiger. And to all the contractors on the Jurong Region Line (JRL) project, may you all experience good health (and safety) this coming year.
Through the Chinese New Year period, we have been travelling around a fair bit and noticed the first viaduct piers for the line beginning to emerge above the hoarding protecting the worksite.
01 February 2022 - A partially cast pier peeking above the hoarding.
Located along Bukit Batok Road, rebar for about 6 upcoming piers is clearly visible, with the lower portion of one pier already being cast. In view of the height requirements for the station at Tengah Park, it is expected that the final height of the piers will be a fair bit higher than what is currently visible.
01 February 2022 - An aerial view of the piers under construction at the J108 Tengah Park station construction site, towards Tengah Plantation station.
02 February 2022 - A view of the under construction piers from street level.
02 February 2022 - An aerial view of the partially cast pier.
02 February 2022 - Another pier under construction & casting as the line swings in to Tengah Plantation Crescent from Bukit Batok Road.
02 February 2022 - Close up view of the above pier.
Over at Bukit Batok West, we also noticed what appears to be a mock up or trial cast of what an eventual JRL pier would look like. The site of this pier is off from the official alignment (viewable through URA's Master Plan 2019) and the height appears to be too low to be an official usable pier for the line.
02 February 2022 - Trial casting of pier at Bukit Batok West station site.
02 February 2022 - A close up view of the trial casting of the JRL viaduct pier.
02 February 2022
02 February 2022 - An aerial view of the trial casted pier.
Additionally, there are no provisions for bearings upon which the viaduct is connected to and supported by the pier. Nonetheless, this gives us an idea of how the eventual piers may look like.
17 July 2006 - A view of a bearing during the construction of the Boon Lay Extension (BLE). An uncovered bearing can be seen along with one covered in black plastic to prevent damage.
24 October 2006 - A close up of the assembled bearing which connects the viaduct segment to the pier crosshead as seen during the construction of the BLE.
Elsewhere, work appears to have progressed at the casting yards along the line as well. Numerous segmented box girders can be seen at the casting yard for contract J108 which is located in Tengah.
02 February 2022 - J108 casting yard visible in the background.
02 February 2022 - Rows of segmented box girders have been cast and ready for assembly to form the viaduct that will support the tracks upon which trains will run.
Here's a video on the use of segmented box girders in viaduct construction to give you an idea of how they will be used to form a viaduct:
It is great to finally see viaduct piers springing up. We also look forward to construction moving to the subsequent phase of launching the segmented box girders to form the eventual viaduct for the line.
However the design of the segmented box girders closely resembles the design of the western sections of the East-West Line and North-South Line viaducts.
Honestly, it is unlikely that the JRL viaduct design will resemble the viaduct design of the NSL, EWL, BPLRT, or SPLRT.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the animation seems to give a preview of how the JRL viaduct would look like.
Which actually resembles the Malaysia Klang Valley MRT viaduct.
However the design of the segmented box girders closely resembles the design of the western sections of the East-West Line and North-South Line viaducts.
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