Hougang Cross Island Line Station Has 6 Long Escalators Linking It To North East Line
The upcoming Cross Island Line (CRL) is now under construction, and residents of the affected areas must put up with the dust and noise for years.
To give them something to look forward to, a sneak preview of the new Hougang CRL station has been released.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
It revealed that the station will have five basement levels and three new exits.
Hougang Cross Island Line station adds 3 more entrances
The video, which was sent via a Telegram channel specifically for info about Hougang CRL station, first gives a rough overview of its place in the surrounding area.
It notes that the existing North East Line (NEL) station has three entrances, of which Entrance 1 is located at Hougang Bus Interchange.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
The Hougang CRL station will add three more entrances into the mix, not including the existing Entrance 1.
According to the map, Entrance 4 will be near the junction of Hougang Central and Hougang Avenue 10, while Entrance 5 will be along Avenue 10 next to Block 831.
Entrance 6 will be farther down along Hougang Central, opposite Block 835.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
Additionally, a covered walkway will be built to link pedestrians from Hougang Central to Entrance 1.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
Hougang Cross Island Line station will have 5 underground levels
As for the CRL station, it will be much deeper than the NEL station.
While the NEL station goes down two levels, with the train platform on Basement 2, the CRL station will have five underground levels.
The ticket concourse — i.e. where the gantries are — will be on B3.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
The train platform will be another two levels down on B5.
Those are some long escalators that commuters will have to travel down.
New station will have many long escalators
Speaking of long escalators, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) released artists’ impressions of Hougang CRL in March 2021 which showed that there will be several of them.
In the latest video, the contractors took us on a first-person view of a commuter entering the station from Entrance 1.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
They’ll first have to take a long escalator down to an intermediary level.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
From there, they must take another escalator to reach the B3 concourse level, where they can enter the paid area.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
Then a third long escalator ride is needed to get to the train platform on B5.
Those who need to change to the NEL within the paid area might be happy to know that they will encounter six super-long escalators that will take them to the other line.
Source: CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram
We don’t know how long they will be, but they may rival the ones in Bras Basah MRT, which at 41m are the longest in the MRT.
Contractors will minimise noise & dust: MP
Aljunied MP Gerald Giam shared part of the video on Facebook on Thursday (8 June).
In his post, he said he and Hougang MP Dennis Tan attended a briefing by the contractors. They said there will be efforts to minimise noise and dust during the construction.
Source: Gerald Giam on Facebook
Going by the sneak peek, we say it’s worth the inconvenience in order to have a gleaming new MRT station in the neighbourhood when it opens in 2030.
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Featured image adapted from CR112 Hougang Station on Telegram.
