7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 train debuts passenger service on the North-South Line on May 25, 2024

The 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 train running on the North-South, East-West MRT lines. (Image: SGTrains File)

The new 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 train for the North-South, East-West MRT lines (NSEWL) has finally started running on the North-South Line (NSL) on Saturday (May 25) afternoon.

This latest generation of NSEWL trains first debuted passenger service on the East-West Line (EWL) on Jun 4, 2023, approaching almost one year ago.

Alstom Movia R151 train debuts on the North-South Line

Trainset 1839/1840 is the first R151 train to be deployed on the North-South Line. (Image: Screengrab from SGTrains Spotters)

Trainset 1839/1840 had been first spotted by keen-eyed local trainspotters doing test runs on the NSL one week ago, leading to anticipation and optimism that R151 trains could debut on that MRT line in due time.

It is worth mentioning that according to crowdsourced trainspotting platform SGTrains Spotters, trainset 1839/1840 first entered passenger service in January this year and had been running on the EWL just 10 days prior on May 15.

LEARN MORE: Alstom Movia R151 trains »

Across the entire NSEWL fleet, 21 R151 trains have entered passenger service, and three trains are currently undergoing mainline testing.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) last year, approximately two R151 trains would be put into service every month upon completion of testing.

The new 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 trains will replace the existing 1st-gen Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151, 2nd-gen Siemens C651 and 3rd-gen Kawasaki-Nippon Sharyo C751B trains, which have been running on the NSEWL since 1987, 1995 and 2000, respectively.

It added that trains from the earlier generation of the NSEWL fleet will be decommissioned accordingly, and all 106 new R151 trains are expected to be rolled out by the end of 2026.

At the time of writing, only four 2nd-gen C651 trains and six 3rd-gen C751B trains are still running, with the majority deployed on the EWL.

MORE INFO: Running Status of NSEWL Trains »
MORE INFO: Delivery of Alstom Movia R151 »

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Related Links
Alstom Movia R151 – SGTrains
North-South Line – SGTrains
Running Status of NSEWL Trains – SGTrains Spotters
Delivery of Alstom Movia R151 – SGTrains Spotters

Images: SGTrains File, Screengrab from SGTrains Spotters.
This article first appeared on SGTrains.