New MRT line in east by 2020; will have 10 stops

The new Eastern Region Line (ERL) will have 10 stations and pass through estates such as Marine Parade, Tanjong Rhu, Siglap, Bedok South and Upper East Coast.

Slated to open by 2020, it will be 13km long, fully underground, and use driverless four-car trains. Its stations will link to the city centre and to the upcoming Thomson Line which will also use a four-car train. The older North-South and East-West lines use six-car trains.

The ERL, which will run almost parallel to the existing East-West Line, was first announced in the LTA's 2008 Masterplan.

Together with the Thomson Line, scheduled to open in 2018 to connect northern Singapore to the Marina Bay area, the new lines are meant to alleviate congestion on existing MRT lines, but little information about the ERL has emerged since.

The documents also included mention of an "integrated" interchange station linking the new ERL with an extension of an existing MRT line - though it did not specify which existing line this was. It also did not give further details about the new interchange station.

Source: The Straits Times – 14 August 2012