JRL Groundbreaking and Viaduct Launching Ceremony on 13 Jan 2023

The Sg MRT Construction team is grateful to have been invited to the groundbreaking and viaduct launching ceremony of Jurong Region Line (JRL).

The event took place last Friday (13 Jan) morning, near the future JS3 Tengah station within contractor Shanghai Tunnel Engineering & Construction Co's J102 worksite and in proximity to where the east and west route tracks split.

Minister S Iswaran's arrival was marked by a lion dance performance, in time for the Chinese New Year festivities and for good luck and blessings on this special occasion.

The ceremony was graced by multiple grassroots advisors from the Jurong and West Coast region GRCs and SMCs, whose residents will be served by (and in the interim, affected by the works for) the JRL.

The Minister went to length to emphasise that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) engineers have undertaken extensive planning, and rolled out a number of mitigating measures to minimise disruptions to traffic and the environment. 

He also shared permanent noise barriers will be installed along viaducts near residential areas, as minimising noise disturbance is a key design consideration for the JRL.

Minister Iswaran added that slightly narrower and shorter carriages will enable the train to negotiate and manoeuvre through tighter curves, due to the built-up areas along the JRL alignment.

Also in attendance were members of the LTA project teams and its senior leadership, celebrating the culmination of their efforts leading to this milestone moment.

At 10.10am, the invited VIPs literally put their palms together on stage to set the viaduct launching ceremony in motion. On cue, the gantry crane named Gaia lifted a viaduct segment carrying the event banner carefully positioned off a mobile trailer by a metre or so (image at beginning of post).

Finally, representatives from all civil contract teams of the JRL jointly signed the safety pledge along with LTA senior rail leadership, as a record of commitment to complete all works safely and to minimise harm to people and environment. 

Check out our IG at @sgmrtconstruction for more pictures and videos under the "JRL Groundbreaking" story highlights reel. We had snapped pictures of all the exhibition panels on display at the event and archived them there. Videos of the lion dance, speech and the lifting ceremony are also available there for your perusal.

When fully opened in 2029, JRL will add 24 train stations to the MRT network. JRL will bring 60,000 more households to within a 10-minute walk of a train station, and enhance public transport connectivity for residents in the west and north-west. 

JRL will improve access to the Nanyang Technological University, and also make it easier to travel to commercial and industrial nodes such as the Jurong Industrial Estate, Jurong Innovation District, and Jurong Lake District.

Here are more bonus images, for making it to the end:

A view northwards, of a pier under construction near the launch site.

Looking westwards towards Tengah central.

The site of provisions for a future transport infrastructure.

A view of the future Tengah station under construction.

A view of the launch gantry on site near the Tengah junction where the
east & west routes diverge.

A view of the launch gantry amidst towering piers on site. The piers upon which the gantry sits
will be for the west route main line towards Jurong Pier. The other piers will support a single track
connecting the reception track from the depot to the east route on the upper level at Tengah station.

A view of the launch gantry named Gaia. A second gantry will be used for contract J102, named
Mulan.

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