Chinatown MRT station



Chinatown MRT station (NE4/DT19) is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North East Line and Downtown Line in Outram, Singapore. It provides MRT access to the ethnic district of Chinatown, after which it was named.

The construction of the station was considered an engineering achievement, due to the busy traffic on the roads above and a number of nearby historical buildings that had to be preserved during the construction. It is within walking distances to Telok Ayer MRT station on the Downtown Line.

The station entrances A and C were only open during revenue hours only, due to the presence of Garden Bridge.

North East Line
There are Chinese calligraphy paintings in the station titled, "The Phoenix’s-Eye Domain" telling the significance of Chinatown. It is painted by renowned Singapore artist Tan Swie Hian.

Downtown Line
Artwork titled, "Flying Colours" by Cheo Chai Hiang illustrate hanging clothes on poles outside windows, delivering the illusion towards commuters passing by that the clothes are flying in the wind.

History
It was originally named People's Park during the construction. In 1999 the name was changed to Chinatown to reflect the heritage of the station. The North East Line was opened on 20 June 2003. Before the North-East Line part of this station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Farrer Park, Serangoon and Hougang stations.

This station is said to be the most challenging station to build on the North-East line, due to the large number of buildings above ground, most with reinforced concrete or timber piles and all in marine clay. Another feat was that they had to preserve Garden Bridge, a large overhead bridge on bore piles, while building the station below. The tidal Eu Tong Sen Canal was also diverted into four two-meter diameter steel pipes slung under the temporary traffic decks (two on each side). Part of the New Bridge Road was often closed between 12 January 1998 and 20 October 2001 for the construction of Chinatown MRT station. Traffic along Eu Tong Sen Street was diverted until January 2000.

During the early stages of the Circle Line when it was under planning, the Circle Line Extension was planned to terminate at Chinatown, and was also duplicating the future Eastern Region Line. It was also named Hong Lim. The Downtown Line part of this station commenced on 12 February 2008 and opened on 22 December 2013, as part of the six-station Stage 1 of the Downtown Line. The Downtown Line station and tracks are built beneath Cross Street, above and perpendicular to the North-East Line station and tracks. Construction of the Downtown Line station also added a new entrance near Hong Lim Complex which enhances the connectivity to Hong Lim Complex instead of taking the MRT to Raffles Place.