Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang CT251

Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang CT251
The first CT251 Train on media showcase at Mandai Depot in July 2018.
In service	2019  TEL  Thomson–East Coast line ~December 2024 Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS Link
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Heavy Industries CSR Qingdao Sifang
Built at	Qingdao, Shandong, China
Constructed	2015–2020 ?-? (for RTS Link)
Entered service	2019  TEL  Thomson–East Coast line ~December 2024 Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS Link
Number under construction	364 vehicles (91 trainsets) + an additional 28 vehicles (7 train sets for RTS Link)
Number built	364 vehicles (91 trainsets) + an additional 28 vehicles (7 train sets for RTS Link)
Formation	4 per trainset DM1-M-T-DM2
Fleet numbers	2001-2091
Capacity	1,280 passengers
Operator(s)	SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation)
Depot(s)	Mandai (Future) East Coast (Future)
Line(s) served	TEL  Thomson–East Coast line Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS Link
Specifications
Car body construction	Welded Aluminium Construction
Car length	23.6 m (77 ft 5 1⁄8 in)
Width	3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Height	3.7 m (12 ft 1 5⁄8 in)
Doors	40 (10 per car)
Maximum speed	90 km/h (56 mph) (Design) 80 km/h (50 mph) (Service)
Traction system	IGBT-VVVF
Electric system(s)	750 V DC third rail[1]
Current collection method	Collector shoe
Safety system(s)	Alstom Urbalis 400 Moving Block CBTC ATC with subsystems of ATO GOA 4 (UTO), ATP, Iconis ATS and SmartlockCBI
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The trains manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang under Contract T251 (CT251) are the upcoming rolling stock to be used on the future Thomson–East Coast line and Rapid Transit System Link.

91 four-car medium-capacity trainsets were purchased by LTA for the Thomson-East Coast line and the first set was delivered on 25 May 2018.^[1] Seven additional trains are expected to be procured for the RTS Link as both the Singapore and Malaysian governments agreed to both lines sharing largely identical technical specifications.^[2]

Tender

The tender for trains under the contract turnkey 251 was closed on 15 Nov 2013 with 6 bids. The Land Transport Authority has shortlisted all of them and the tender results was published on 28 May 2014.^[3][4]

Kawasaki will be responsible for the overall project management, design, manufacturing of bogies and procurement of major components. CSR Sifang will be in charge of manufacturing, final fitting and assembly of complete MRT trains and factory testing. Kawasaki (Singapore) will be responsible for the delivery of complete MRT trains to the depot, on-site testing and commissioning.^[1]

Design and features

The CT251 trains will have a new livery of khaki and brown stripes running around the cars, similar to C951 trains, which bear teal and dark blue stripes. They may include several features unique to this rolling stock, such as:^[5]

• A updated version of STARIS 2.0 (similar to C151C)
• Tip-up seats which can be lifted up to create more standing space for commuters;
• Different shaded reserved seats, which allows for clearer distinction between normal and reserved seats;
• Perch seats which are located at the ends of each train car;
• Hand grips utilising joints instead of straps, providing commuters a steadier grip;
• 10 doors per car (5 per side), instead of 8 doors (4 per side).

Train formation

The configuration of a CT251 in revenue service is DM1-M-T-DM2

The car numbers of the trains range from 2001x to 2091x, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a five-digit serial number. A complete four-car trainset consists of one trailer (T), one motor car (M) and two driving motor cars (DM1 & DM2) permanently coupled together. For example, set 2001 consists of carriages 20011, 20012, 20013 and 20014.

• The first digit is always a 2.
• The second digit is always a 0
• The third digit and fourth digit identifies the set number
• The fifth digit identifies the car number, where the first car has a 1, the second has a 2, the third has a 3 & the fourth has a 4
  • Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang built sets 001-091.

Doubts about the consortium

The award of the CT251 turnkey contract to the Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang consortium was briefly politicised in Singapore, when the defects from the relatively new C151A trains constructed by same consortium made public on 5 July 2016. This was after Gerald Giam from the Workers Party commenting through an official Facebook post doubting the decision by the Land Transport Authority to awarded the subsequent contracts, specifically both the design and supply of C151C and CT251 rail cars to the same consortium in 2015.^[6] This was despite the Land Transport Authority and operator SMRT Trains being officially acknowledged on the C151A crack defects as early as 2013.^[7][8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)#Trains.