Singapore's Land Transport Authority Orders 364 MRT Cars for New Line

Tokyo, May 29, 2014 － Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced that it was awarded a 60 billion yen contract along with Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (KHI-SIN) and CSR Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd (Sifang) from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore. The three companies will work together to supply 364 cars of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) trains for the future Thomson and Eastern Region Lines of the Singapore MRT system.

Kawasaki will be responsible for the overall project management, design, manufacturing of bogies and procurement of major components. Sifang will be in charge of manufacturing, final fitting and assembly of complete MRT trains, factory tests and off-site integration tests. KHI-SIN will be responsible for the delivery of complete MRT trains to the depot and on-site testing and commissioning. The new MRT trains are scheduled to be delivered to Singapore from 2018.

LTA is implementing a master plan to double the rail network (178 km →360 km) by 2030 and is undergoing to build new lines and to extend and add more trains into the existing lines for enhancement of passenger amenity and for reliefe of crowding during peak hours.

The Thomson and Eastern Region Lines will be fully underground and will run along a North-South direction serving housing estates andeastern region connecting the city and Marina Bay area, providing greater accessibility and significant improvement of travel time for commuters.

The new trains will be designed and operated as a fully－automated four-car driverless trains with new features such as five doors on each side of each car and advanced train travel information systems operating at a miximum speed at 90 km/h. 

The history of cooperation between Kawasaki and Sifang goes back to 1985, when they signed a friendship agreement. Since then, the two companies have built up a solid track record within China, including joint contracts of linear motor MRT trains for Guangzhou Metro Lines 4 and 5 and for high-speed trains from the Ministry of Railways of China.

Kawasaki, including the joint contracts with other companies, is the supplier with the most number of trains on Singapore’s North South East West Line. The first train delivery was for the inauguration fleet of 66 six–car trains (396 cars) in 1986. Subsequently, additional fleets of 21 and 22 six–car trains (126 cars and 132 cars) were delivered in 1999 and 2011 respectively. Currently, the Kawasaki is in progress of delivering 13 six–car trains (78 cars) this year and a further 28 six–car trains (168 cars) to Singapore from 2016.

This is the third joint contract of Kawasaki and Sifang in the overseas market outside Japan and China.

Kawasaki will continue to expand its rolling stock business in Asia as well as other global markets.