Fast, efficient and comfortable. That's what it is like to travel on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and LRT (Light Rapid Transit) systems. It's the backbone of the city's public transport system, taking you to the north, south, east, west and north-eastern parts of Singapore.

LTA has integrated the stations with other facilities. You can now take the train to the city or regional centre, hop off, shop at the mall and cross the underground pass to your office. Or, you can get off the train, hop on to a bus at the bus interchange or switch to another line. Take a look here!

Finding your way around our rail system have been made easier when multi-lingual signs were added to stations since 2005. In addition, pictograms of international standard are also used extensively throughout the transit signage system.

Names of stations are displayed in the official languages at various parts of the station as well as on the system maps. Commuters who are not literate in English can now make use of these multi-lingual signs to aid their journey e.g. plan their route and know which station they are at.

These multi-lingual signs are an enhancement of our current signage system, which uses colours, alpha-numeric codes and end-destination numbers. Each MRT line is marked by a different colour, for example red for the North South (NS) line and green for the East West (EW) line. Each station is then assigned a unique alpha-numeric code, comprising a prefix which is the acronym of the MRT line followed by a number which runs sequentially from one station to the next. For instance, Somerset station along the North South line is easily identified as NS23. Unique end-destination numbers located at the end of each MRT line also help commuters to identify the direction of travel along that line.

Take a look at the different lines in our rail map here.

Since December 2004, commuters are able to use the newly constructed ramps and lifts at all elevated stations and 10 underground stations had been retrofitted by 2006. Therefore, all MRT stations have at least one barrier-free entrance inclusive of a lift.

Nevertheless, more commuter-friendly measures have been looked into. One of them is to create a 2^nd barrier-free entrance to the MRT stations to further enhance their accessibility. Currently, the elderly or the less mobile commuter sometimes have to make long detours to get to that one entrance with lift. As such, in the pipeline are enhancements of the barrier-free features of another 23 stations, which include 12 additional lifts. 5 lifts will be added to 5 stations in the Circle line which is currently under construction. The works are expected to be completed by 2011.

Putting in a lift at the 2nd entrance will benefit, among others, the elderly residents at the Boon Keng housing estate, enabling them to get into the MRT station more easily. So too will the people who alight from Boon Keng station to go to the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital. By end 2011, more than 70% of our MRT stations will have at least two barrier-free routes.

The visually-impaired are able to find their way around the stations independently, with help from the tactile guidance system. This system, which has been implemented at stations on the North East Line, will soon be seen at existing MRT stations.

The tactile route will start at the entrance of the station at ground level and lead to the station concourse level. Here, commuters will pass through the wide fare gates and into the concourse paid area. The route will then continue and end at the concourse level lift entrance. Upon reaching the platform, commuters will be guided to a designated waiting area on the platform before they board the train.

At a time when many would have called it a day and retired to bed, workers involved in the Station Upgrade Project are just getting to work. Unknown to many, most of the addition and alteration works are only carried out when the shutters at the stations are down. One of the stations that was retrofitted is busy downtown interchange, City Hall. Due to its high volume of commuter traffic during the day, works are only carried out at night. Before piling works started, traffic along Stamford Road also had to be diverted to facilitate the construction of the external lift.

The art you see as you travel through the North East Line stations are presented as architectural finishes to the station interiors. We've selected four stations for you to start with; view as many as you have time for by stopping at the stations you wish to see.

Simply board the North East Line at any station. Much of the work is visible at platform level or at station level before exiting the turnstiles. Click here to for the tour overview and click on Harbourfront, Outram Park, Chinatown and Dhoby Ghaut for a closer look into the art and architecture at these four stations. Enjoy the ride!

Visit our Photo Gallery, boasting some of our best architectural and design feats, in living colour!

The fast and efficient MRT and LRT system we have today is the fruit of many decades of planning and studies. Even though the first line was open in 1988, many do not realise that the idea for a rail system was mooted as far back as the 1960s! Take a peek into a brief history of the MRT.

Last Updated on 05/08/2008