Facilities on the Mass Rapid Transit

Stations on the Mass Rapid Transit are either elevated or underground (with the exception of Bishan), which have two classifications of areas, paid and unpaid areas, which allow the rail operators to collect fares by restricting entry between the areas through faregates.

Each stations has a concourse level and one or more platform levels. The concourse level consists of faregates, ticketing machine, passenger service centre, toilet and retail shop. Both the concourse and platform levels consist of display travel that inform commuters of the next arriving train. Stairs, Escalators and Lift connect between the two level.

Passenger Information System

Flip Dot Electronic Displays in stations

Initially, the MRT system used green coloured flip dot electronic displays on the North–South Line and East–West Line from 1987 until 2002. The displays announced a train's terminating station when it arrives (or otherwise, a "Do Not Board" warning), although the disadvantage was that it could not tell the duration of a train's arrival time (e.g. the train will arrive at Jurong East station in 2 mins). The second generation of such displays installed at stations along the Woodlands Extension featured a slightly updated version where the time till the next train arrival would be displayed from 3 minutes prior to the train's arrival. They were eventually replaced by plasma displays in 2002.

Plasma Displays in stations

Singapore utilises plasma displays in MRT stations to display train service information. Critics have opposed the use of plasma displays as they are considerably more expensive to install and are susceptible to the problem of screen burn. However, the rail operators see this as a medium to earn advertising revenue from commercials shown on these displays. At the same time, they are able to display all the train service information, safety messages and time and date on these screens clearly. Using the flip dot system previously, only a limited amount of information could be displayed.

Plasma Displays by Conrac are installed in stations along the North–South Line and East–West Line. 2 plasma displays are installed at a single location per platform. The reason for the installation of only 2 plasma displays at a single location per platform was because these displays had been retrofitted into the platforms when they replaced the aging flip dot displays which were only sited at 1 location per platform. Thus, the existing infrastructure available could only support plasma displays at 1 location per platform.

Plasma Displays by Advanced System Asia (ADV) are installed at the concourse levels of stations along the North East Line. These were the first generation of plasma displays installed in these stations. However, the normal Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) for plasma displays is about 35,000 hours or about 4 years. Because these displays were tested and commissioned for use more than 5 years ago, burnt marks had appeared, brought about by a sharp contrast of the display of a certain combination of colours over a long period of time. As such, the Land Transport Authority had to replace these displays, though only at the platform level.

PPM42S3QX/XSS Plasma Displays by Samsung are installed at the platforms in stations along the North East Line. Unlike the platforms along the North–South Line and East–West Line, 2 plasma displays are installed at each of 2 locations per platform. The reason for the installation of 4 plasma displays per platform was because these displays were installed at the platforms right from the station's construction phase & thus had the necessary infrastructure to support them at 2 different locations per platform.

Liquid Crystal Displays in trains

6 liquid crystal displays are installed in each train car. These show silent commercials, safety videos, the name of the next station & terminating station name. These are installed in the 751A Cars & the 751B cars only. However, at present, all of them have been turned off.

LCD displays in stations

These are installed at the entrances & the concourse level of the stations. They show the estimated arrival times of the next 2 trains per platform, safety messages & train service messages.

LCD Displays by Advanced System Asia (ADV) are installed in stations along the North East Line & Circle Line.

LCD Displays by Wei Long Electronics are installed in stations along the North–South Line and East–West Line.

LED displays in trains (VPIS/TTIS)

These are installed in all North East Line, Circle Line, Downtown Line and Thomson–East Coast Line trains, and formerly in the KNS trains. These displays show the name of the next station, current station, door closing messages, interchange messages and occasionally the date and the time. However, the displays in the KNS trains are already replaced by the STARIS's VFDs.

VFD displays in trains (STARIS)

VFDs (Vacuum Fluorescent Displays) are now installed on all North–South Line and East–West Line trains, together with STARIS. The KNS’s LED Displays have already been replaced by these VFD displays.

SMRT Active Route Map Information System

The SMRT Active Route Map Information System (STARIS) is a new rail travel information system developed in-house by SMRT Corporation and has been installed for its entire fleet of North–South Line and East–West Line trains. The system comprises 4 units of ceiling mounted Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFD) and 8 units of active route map displays installed in every train car.

Barrier-free facilities

A typical barrier-free route for an elevated station would start at the ramp entrance to the station and following the tactile path, would bring the elderly or the handicapped past the wider Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates & into the lift at the concourse level. The lift will feature braille plates on lift buttons, audio announcements and LED displays. Upon exiting from the lift at the platform level, the tactile path will lead them onto a designated waiting area where the doors of the middle train cars will be (and where the designated wheelchair space will be) to wait for the train. The tactile path may diverge at the concourse level to lead to the handicapped friendly toilet or passenger service centre. At elevated stations where platform screen doors were not installed, tactile studs are installed along the platform edge to serve as reminder for them that they are getting too close to the edge.

The barrier-free route will differ slightly depending on whether the station is underground or located at the road median or design of the station but there will be at least 1 barrier free route for the disabled and the elderly at every station, leading from the street level to the platform level, though some stations will have more due to higher passenger traffic.

All stations constructed before 2001 on the North–South Line & East–West Line initially did not have barrier-free facilities such as lifts, ramps & tactile guidance systems for the elderly and disabled. In addition, these stations initially did not have the wider AFC gates installed as well.

Since 2010, all 79 MRT stations were made barrier-free as part of a programme to make all MRT stations accessible to the elderly and the handicapped.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, all 79 MRT stations had wider AFC gates installed as well as part of a programme to make it easier for passengers with luggage or prams.^{[citation needed]}

Technical information

OTIS is the supplier for the lifts at Changi Airport, Canberra, Dover, Jurong East (Platforms A & B), Marina Bay (Circle Line), East–West Line Tuas West Extension stations, North East Line, Downtown Line and Thomson–East Coast Line (stages 1 to 3) stations, while Chevailer who is the distributor for Toshiba elevators in Singapore is the supplier for all other stations on the North–South Line, East–West Line & Circle Line. These lifts typically have a capacity for 15 passengers with a total load of 1 tonne, though those at interchange or busier stations have been designed with a larger handling capacity.

Reference

1. Shopping at SMRT website