Braddell MRT station

Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore

NS18
Braddell
布莱德
பிரேடல்

Preceding station	Mass Rapid Transit	Following station
Bishan towards Jurong East		North–South Line		Toa Payoh towards Marina South Pier

Preceding station

Mass Rapid Transit

Following station

Bishan

towards Jurong East

North–South Line

Toa Payoh

towards Marina South Pier

History

Exit B of Braddell MRT station at night.

Platform A of Braddell MRT.

When the MRT system was under planning since 1981, MRTC tried to design the track system and position in order to enable the station to have a common platform, like in the mainstream MRT stations. However, the closely built HDB Blocks in Toa Payoh estate meant that the MRT system tunnels had to be constructed directly under Lorong 2 Toa Payoh, following the bend of the road, in the area between Lorong 1 Toa Payoh and Toa Payoh MRT Station. The result made it impossible for tracks to diverge at a common platform station, as the angle Southbound trains would turn when approaching and leaving the station would be too great. Additionally, it would be unfeasible to change the position of the station, because moving it south would render it too close to Toa Payoh MRT station, while moving it north would be impossible because of surrounding HDB blocks and JTC Flatted factories. It was thus built with side platforms unlike other NSL stations. Construction of this station was awarded to Singapore Belgium Contractors Limited under Contract 103A on 7 April 1984.^[1]^[2] To facilitate the construction, two of the six lanes at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 and 2, were temporarily closed from February 1985 to February 1986.^[3] Braddell was among the first of five stations opened for operation on 7 November 1987.

Incidents

On 7 October 2017, water got into a section of the tunnel between Bishan and Braddell MRT stations during a heavy downpour in the afternoon, which disrupted train services along 13 stations on the North South line for several hours. This case of water entering MRT tunnels is believed to be the first time it has affected train service along the NSL. Separately, at about 5.55 pm, a small fire was spotted trackside in the tunnel between the Marina Bay and Raffles Place stations, but it had died down by itself. It is not clear if it is linked to the flood, although electrical short circuits caused by water had sparked tunnel fires before.^[4]^[5] Train services between Marina South Pier and Newton were restored on the day itself at about 9.20 pm. Train services between Newton and Ang Mo Kio were fully resumed at 1.36 pm the following day after overnight efforts to clear the water in the tunnel, after nearly 21 hours of service disruption, being one of the worst disruptions in SMRT Trains Ltd's history.^[6] It was revealed that the overflowing in the tunnel was caused by a malfunction in the water pumping system, which has since been repaired.^[7]

References

^ "S'pore-Belgium venture to build Braddell Station". Singapore Monitor. 7 April 1984.
^ Braddell MRT Station construction awarded
^ "Roads partly closed for a year for MRT". Singapore Monitor. 24 February 1985.
^ "Water in the tunnel, trackside fire caused train disruption on NSL: SMRT". Channel Newsasia. 8 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
^ "NSL disruption: Train services between Ang Mo Kio and Newton will not be available until earliest Sunday". The Straits Times. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
^ "NSL disruption: No train services between Ang Mo Kio, Newton 'till further notice', says SMRT". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
^ "NSL disruption: Malfunctioning water pumping system resulted in flooded MRT tunnel, says LTA". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.