Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo 751B

Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B cars are part of the newest rolling stock used in Singapore's original Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network, operating on the North South MRT Line and the East West MRT Line since early 2000. 21 trainsets of 6 cars each were purchased, and it is the first rolling stock to feature VVVF Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor traction control system. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company manufactured 66 cars and Nippon Sharyo manufactured 60 cars respectively with no comparable differences, having built to agreed specifications.

Specifications

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A C751B train approaching Choa Chu Kang.

In service	28 January 2000 - Current
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Heavy Industries]] and Nippon Sharyo
Constructed	1999 - 2001
Number built	126
Formation	6 per trainset DT - M1 - M2 - M2 - M1 - DT
Capacity	1920 passengers 288 seats
Operator	SMRT Corporation
Depot(s)	Bishan, Changi and Ulu Pandan
Line(s) served	North South Line and East West Line
Car body construction	Aluminium-alloy double-skinned construction
Car length	23 m
Width	3.2 m
Height	3.7 m
Doors= 1.45 m, 8 per car
Maximum speed	90 km/h (Design) 80 km/h (Service)
Weight	34800 kg (DT) 39000 kg (M1/M2)
Traction system	IGBT-VVVF (Fuji Electric)
Engine(s)	Three-phase induction motor (S120-3380) 140kW 550V 193A 1760rpm
Electric system(s)	750 V DC 3rd rail
Safety system(s)	Automatic Train Control (ATC) and Automatic Train Protection (ATP)
Gauge	1,435 mm (Standard gauge)

Exterior design

The most prominent difference between these trains, and trains of the older generation, such as the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 before refurbishment, are in terms of its exterior design and colours. The front of the train sports a more slanted and streamlined look, with the run number display in Orange LED Display. The sides of the train, instead of having the conventional white background with a red stripe, consists of a shiny black area covering the middle portion of the train from just above the windows to below the windows, followed by a bold red stripe and a thinner grey stripe at the bottom of the train.

Interior design

All cars are equipped with Liquid Crystal Displays (6 in each car), and all except Train 347/348 feature LED displays. These used to show rail travel information, commercials and movie trailers. They also come with more grab poles, wider seats, more space near the doors and wheelchair space. The interior and exterior design of the train have been improved, incorporating a much sleeker design. The LEDs however have seen little usage after a new series of voice announcements were introduced across the system in mid-2008. (Only trainset 327/328 is currently known to be working).

The colour layout on these trains are also different from their earlier counterparts. Cars 1 and 6 use a sort of pinkish-purple color on the seats, while cars 2 and 5 use a different shade of blue, and the middle cars using a bluish-green. All door panels and walls are white, which was subsequently adopted in the refurbishment of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151.

Experimental programmes

In 2001, when the Changi Airport Line was opened, some of these trains plying the East West Line had luggage racks installed. These luggage racks were installed in every carriage of the train, taking up the space of two seats next to the door at the end of each carriage. The purpose of those racks were to let travellers to the airport, who usually carry a large amount of luggage, to have a space to place their bags easily.

However, these luggage racks were always underutilised. Travellers preferred holding on to their bags where they were standing or sitting, as opposed to placing them on the luggage racks, probably due to convenience and fear of theft. Some commuters were also complaining that these racks took up critically needed space which could be occupied by other passengers which often filled the train. Furthermore, the through service to Changi Airport was cancelled and replaced by a shuttle service to and from Tanah Merah station, dismissing the need to provide these racks for non-airport bound train services. Therefore, in 2003, trains with the luggage racks had their luggage racks removed, and replaced with an empty standing area, with a dual purpose of serving as a wheelchair area.

Safety systems

Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B cars are equipped with Automatic Train Control (ATC), supplemented with Automatic train operation (ATO). At a fallback level, Automatic Train Protection (ATP) is available.

Serial number

The car numbers of the trains range from x311 to x352, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a 4 digit serial number by the rail operator SMRT.

• The first digit depends upon whether the car is the first, second or third car from either end of the train, where the first car equals 3, the second equals 1 & the third equals 2.
• The other 3 digits is the train identification number. A full length train of 6 cars have 2 different identification number, one for the first 3 cars, and the same number plus 1, for the other three. The smaller number is always an odd number. For example, a train would consist of 6 cars with serial numbers, 3333, 1333, 2333, 2334, 1334, 3334 respectively.
• The reason why the car numbers begin with x311 is because there is a revenue car of the first-generation Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 cars, specially dedicated in transporting goods and trolleys of car number 3301.