The fleet of Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 trains serving the North-South, East-West lines (NSEWL) will be fully decommissioned and retired from passenger service by September 2025.
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The 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 trains for the North-South, East-West lines. (Image: SGTrains)
Rail operator SMRT said in a Facebook update on Jun 23 that through an accelerated delivery programme of the new 7th-gen Alstom Movia R151 trains, the legacy 1st-gen C151 trains would be phased out by September 2025.
Since October 2024, the rail operator said the accelerated rate of introducing the new 7th-gen R151 trains was made possible through a “shared commitment” among the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the original equipment manufacturer, and SMRT.
Alstom Movia R151 trains: Average Number of Trains Rolled Out per Month. For indicative purposes only; figures represent monthly rollout derived from quarterly totals. (Image: SGTrains)
As previously mentioned in June 2023, LTA had said approximately two R151 trains would enter passenger service on the NSEWL monthly. Through the accelerated introduction, SMRT says the number has increased from two to three trains monthly.
By accelerating the rollout of new R151 trains, LTA and SMRT are able to decommission the legacy C151 trains more quickly, firming up the phase-out timeline from the previously projected “third quarter of next year”, as initially mentioned on Dec 8, 2024.
According to crowdsourced trainspotting platform SGTrains Spotters, there are only around 15 of the 66 C151 trains on regular passenger service, with 38 trains scrapped or repurposed. Sixty-one of the 106 new R151 trains have entered service, with the latest rolled out on Jun 29.
MORE INFO: Delivery of Alstom Movia R151 »
MORE INFO: Running Status of NSEWL Trains »
The 1st-gen C151 trains aside, SMRT has fully retired all 19 of the 2nd-gen Siemens C651 trains and all 21 of the 3rd-gen Kawasaki-Nippon Sharyo C751B trains in 2024.
When all of the 1st-gen C151 trains are fully retired by September 2025, the NSEWL fleet would total 198 trains, comprising the 4th-gen C151A, 5th-gen C151B, and 6th-gen C151C trains by Kawasaki-CRRC Qingdao Sifang, and the 7th-gen R151 trains by Alstom.
READ MORE: Singapore’s 2nd-gen Siemens C651 have retired on Nov 27, 2024; first entered passenger service in 1995 »
READ MORE: Singapore’s 3rd-gen C751B trains have retired on Dec 7, 2024; first entered passenger service in 2000 »
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Related Links
Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 – SGTrains
Alstom Movia R151 – SGTrains
Running Status of NSEWL Trains – SGTrains Spotters
Delivery of Alstom Movia R151 – SGTrains Spotters
External Links
“By September 2025, the legacy KHI trains will be fully phased out.” – SMRT/Facebook
“By the third quarter of next year, we aim to decommission all the first generation of KHI trains.” – SMRT/Facebook
Images: Screengrab from SMRT/YouTube, SGTrains.
This article first appeared on SGTrains.