Outram Park MRT station

Outram Park MRT station (EW16/TE17/NE3) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the East West Line and North East Line located on the boundary of Bukit Merah and Outram planning areas, Singapore. It is the nearest MRT station to the Singapore General Hospital.

Outram Park station is slated to become a triple-line interchange in 2021, joining Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and Marina Bay MRT station when Stage 3 of the Thomson-East Coast Line opens.

This station took its name from a nearby road, also named "Outram Park".

Location
Despite its name, the station is not located entirely within Outram. Exits F and G of the North East Line section of the station are located in the easternmost portion of Bukit Merah, serving the precincts of Everton Park and Singapore General Hospital. The East West Line portion of the station however, is only accessible from ground level within Outram itself, serving the southernmost portion of Chinatown, Pearl's Hill and People's Park.

Although the present Chinatown station is now situated within Chinatown, this station was the closest MRT station within the vicinity of Chinatown before the North East Line was built.

History
During the construction of the station, the former Outram Prison and Outram Primary School were acquired for the construction of the station, and construction began in 1984. Obayashi Joint Venture had awarded the contract 109 for the section from Tanjong Pagar to Tiong Bahru together with Outram Park station. The tunnel from Outram Park to Tiong Bahru was completed in September 1984.

In the initial stages of planning for the North East Line in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, this was initially planned to be the southern terminus of the line. But in 1993, the LTA decided to extend the NEL to HarbourFront station (then called World Trade Centre Station), after noting that many people liked to go to the World Trade Centre (the present day HarbourFront Centre), but it was redeveloped from 2000 to 2003, and Sentosa Island.

The East West Line station upgrading was completed on 12 October 2002. Construction began in September 2000 for their lift access in the station for the disabled. The lift originally goes from level 1 to basement 2, skipping the basement 1. It was extended when the North East Line opened on 20 June 2003.

A false bomb threat call was made on 17 August 2007 at 11.16 pm from a public phone located at the concourse of the MRT station and the police arrested two suspects on 24 August 2007 when a 13-year-old boy was turned in by the police while his 15-year-old friend was arrested not long after. Upon consultation, the younger of the two was let off with a warning while the older of the two was charged in a Juvenile Court.

The North East Line sector of the station was the site of a rare police shooting incident, in which a 43-year-old Lim Bock Song, who had earlier fatally stabbed odd-job worker Tan Ah Chang at a coffeeshop at Jalan Kukoh, was shot by a police officer after threatening the officer with the knife on 6 March 2008 at 3:35 pm. Four platform screen doors in the centre in the direction of HarbourFront were affected due to the police cordon which lasted two hours and passengers had to use other doors to board and alight. However, train services were unaffected.

A coroner's inquiry conducted for the shooting of Lim Bock Song ruled on 12 January 2010 that the shooting was a case of justifiable homicide. The man was shot after charging at police officer Azli Othman with a knife. District Judge Yeo ruled the shooting was without any criminal intent.

On 29 July 2008, a man made a phone call to the police about a false bomb threat at 1.07 pm at the concourse area of the station. The man is believed to be in his 40s and is of fair complexion. He was wearing a blue and white polo T-shirt, beige Bermudas and black slippers. He was seen leaving the MRT station with two plastic bags – one red and the other white.

On 15 March 2012, more than 117,000 commuters were affected during a peak hour train breakdown between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront, caused by faulty overhead power cables at the tunnel of the Outram Park that had snapped. A second problem was discovered relating to electricity insulation, delaying the service further. Train services resumed at 4.35 pm after nearly 10 hours of disruption making it the third breakdown in 4 months. Subsequently, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) intends to impose financial penalties amounting to S$400,000 on SBS Transit for the train service disruption along the North East Line on 15 March 2012.

On 10 January 2013, train services in both directions on the North East Line was disrupted due to a power fault. At about 9.50 a.m., SBS Transit said no train service is available between HarbourFront and Outram Park. Train services fully resumed at 4.35 p.m.

Outram Park was the temporary terminus from Pasir Ris during the early closures, late openings and full closures from 8 December 2017 to 31 December 2017.

This station will heavily be renovated for the construction of Thomson-East Coast MRT Line, by 2020. The Land Transport Authority took possession of Pearl's Centre and some open space nearer to former Outram Prison.