Singapore’s 3rd-gen C751B trains have retired on Dec 7, 2024; first entered passenger service in 2000

The 3rd-gen Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B trains, which first entered passenger service on the North-South, East-West lines (NSEWL) in May 2000, have officially retired from the Singapore railway scene on Dec 7.

This comes after several carriages of train 337/338 were sent for scrapping on Dec 7 and Dec 11 after dutifully serving commuters for over 24 years. Despite their retirement, the legacy of the C751B trains is still seen today on newer MRT trains plying the train network.

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The Land Transport Authority (LTA) called a tender under Contract 751B to procure rolling stock for Changi Airport extension, which was subsequently awarded to the Japanese consortium of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Nippon Sharyo, Ltd. in January 1998.

Twenty-one C751B trains would be produced to the agreed specifications in Hyogo and Aichi prefectures of Japan. There were initially plans for five C751B trains to ply the through-train service between Changi Airport and Boon Lay stations permanently.

Thus, a feasibility study was conducted by the LTA on London’s Heathrow Express and Hong Kong’s Airport Express Line on installing permanent luggage racks. These racks were trialled in the first five C751B trains but were removed following unpopularity with local commuters.

The first C751B trains arrived in Singapore from September 1999 onwards and underwent testing and commissioning works before officially commencing passenger service on May 8, 2000, touted at the time by local media to be “state of the art.”

These trains were a significant leap forward in terms of passenger experience and technology. Features such as the built-in visual passenger information system (VPIS), wider seats, and improved air conditioning system significantly improved the commuting experience.

New triplicated grab poles and grab bars beside the doors ensured passenger safety, as did introducing a refreshed interior on the C751B trains, with monotonous flooring and a differentiated colour palette for seats, compared to previous generations of NSEWL trains.

The built-in Train Integrated Management System (TIMS) on board the C751B trains, the first to be used across Singapore’s rolling stock, not only improved the situational awareness of the train captains but also fault diagnostics by maintenance crews and engineers.

An improved propulsion system was adopted, too, with the advent of semiconductor technology at that time – insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) traction control was introduced on the C751B trains, also the first across Singapore’s rolling stock.

The IGBT traction control, integrated with variable-voltage and variable-frequency (VVVF) technology, was manufactured by Fuji Electric in Japan, boasting higher energy efficiency than the solutions used on the previous generations of NSEWL trains.

The advancements in rail technology introduced with the C751B trains influenced the design and features of newer train models, such as the 4th-gen C151A, 5th-gen C151B, and 6th-gen C151C trains, with many pioneering innovations, like the propulsion system inherited.

But in April 2002, a fault in the propulsion system on a C751B train caused wheels to be locked, leading to the grounding of the C751B train fleet. Metallic fragments were discovered in the gearboxes. The trains underwent repairs and returned to service a month later.

With the lack of plans and intentions to conduct a mid-life refurbishment programme on the C751B trains, local trainspotters speculated that these trains may face a similar fate to the 2nd-gen Siemens C651 train, which was unexpectedly decommissioned in September 2020.

Weeks following that, the LTA announced it would replace all C751B trains, as with the 2nd-gen C651 trains, with the 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 trains through an expanded order. The gradual retirement of C751B trains began in early 2021, with train 339/340 sent for disposal.

In recent times, according to crowdsourced trainspotting platform SGTrains Spotters, the last two C751B trains, 341/342 and 337/338, were last spotted running between Sep 27–30 during the six-day-long East-West Line (EWL) disruption.

It could’ve simply been a mere coincidence or that decommissioning was expedited by the authority and rail operator, as the two mentioned C751B trains never returned to passenger service after EWL resumed passenger service on Oct 1 and were then sent for disposal.

Several carriages of train 337/338 were sent to the scrapyard on Dec 7 and Dec 11, thus marking the complete retirement of the 3rd-gen Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B fleet after serving commuters for over 24 years.

However, several C751B train carriages were repurposed for educational and commercial purposes. The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) repurposed carriage 3320 at ITE College West for educational purposes through its rapid transit Nitec and Higher Nitec courses.

City Developments Limited (CDL) repurposed carriage 2317 for its ‘CDL EcoTrain‘ at City Square Mall through a collaboration with Just Keep Thinking, a popular local content creator on science, nature, and sustainability for “exhibitions and workshops”.

Perhaps the most intriguing project involves carriage 3326, which would be repurposed and transformed by Tiny Pod into the “Train Pod @ one-north” – a co-living train hotel with eight rooms in total, each equipped with an attached bathroom.

The 3rd-gen C751B trains definitely have left their mark on Singapore’s train network. Even though the physical presence of these C751B trains may no longer be present on the tracks, their legacy continues to be seen.

Similar to the 2nd-gen C651 trains, it would be unfortunate if any relevant organisation or agency hadn’t pushed to preserve a whole train carriage of any retired generation of rolling stock, preserving a part of history for future generations to experience and learn more about.

Images: SGTrains.
This article first appeared on SGTrains.

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