Gali Batu Depot

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Gali Batu Depot
卡利巴株地铁车厂
Location
Location350 Woodlands Road, Singapore 677730
Coordinates1°23′52.57″N 103°45′21.47″E / 1.3979361°N 103.7559639°E / 1.3979361; 103.7559639
Characteristics
OwnerLand Transport Authority
OperatorSBS Transit Rail Pte Ltd (ComfortDelGro Corporation)
Depot codeGBD
TypeAt-Grade
RoadsWoodlands Road
Rolling stockBombardier Movia C951
Routes served DTL  Downtown Line
History
Opened27 December 2015; 9 years ago (2015-12-27)

Gali Batu Depot is a train and future bus depot located off Woodlands Road in Singapore. It provides maintenance services for the Downtown Line of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, with the capacity to stable up to 42 trains. The future bus depot will have the capacity to stable up to 715 buses.[1]

The 25-hectare (62-acre) at-grade depot is Singapore's first aboveground MRT depot to serve an underground MRT line.

History

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Train depot

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In early 2009, as works for the trains were underway, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) shifted its a attention to the Gali Batu Depot, which would store the Downtown Line (DTL) trains. By March, the LTA has selected two companies to work on the depot; GS Engineering and Construction Corp and Hock Lian Seng.[2]

Prior to construction, nearly 2,000 graves from the Kwong Hou Sua Cemetery had to be exhumed due to the depot's proximity. Exhumation was expected to start in March and finish by June 2009.[3][4] Construction of the depot began in late 2009. During construction, 3,900,000 cubic metres (140,000,000 cu ft) of dirt was dug out.[5] By February 2015, The Straits Times reported that the depot was in its final stage and will be passed to its operator by the end of the year.[6] Although Stage 1 of the DTL was opened in December 2013, operations of the line were conducted from Kim Chuan Depot as Gali Batu was not ready yet, only being ready by October 2015. The transfer of operations from Kim Chuan to Gali Batu were conducted within three hours to avoid disrupting operations in the DTL, with migration tests conducted on three nights every week for six months prior to the transfer. In December 2017, the depot started operations along with stations in Stage 2 of the DTL.[7] Prior to the opening, several religious leaders from the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) jointly blessed the depot.[8]

In February 2015, the LTA announced that the capacity of the depot will be expanded to stable 81 trains by 2019. A S$137.4 million (2015) (US$99.94 million) contract was handed out in January 2015 and is expected to be completed by November 2019.[9] In October 2019, it was announced that signalling simulation centres will be installed in Gali Batu by Siemens after Thales set up a similar facility in Bishan Depot, which stemmed from the Joo Koon rail accident.[10] It was installed progressively from the end of 2019 to the expected completion date of the end of 2020.[11]

Bus depot

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Plans for a bus depot adjacent to Gali Batu train depot were first unveiled in August 2017, through an amendment of the URA Masterplan 2014.[12] Construction of the bus depot began in late 2019 and was initially scheduled to be completed by 2023.[13] In 2021, construction of the depot came to a pause when the construction company Greatearth was in the midst of being wound up.[14] By then, the opening was delayed to 2024.[1] The depot is still under construction as of September 2025.

Details

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Gali Batu Depot is located off Bukit Panjang station on the Downtown Line and has 2 reception tracks: 2 tracks Expo-bound towards Bukit Panjang station.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Gali Batu Multi-Storey Bus Depot". Gamuda. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  2. ^ Feng 2017, p. 117.
  3. ^ Feng 2017, p. 119.
  4. ^ "SLA to commence exhumation of graves at Kwong Hou Sua Cemetery". Singapore Land Authority. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  5. ^ Feng 2017, p. 119-120.
  6. ^ "New train depot ready in July". The Straits Times. 18 February 2015 – via National Library Board.
  7. ^ Feng 2017, p. 127.
  8. ^ Hui Min, Chew (22 December 2015). "Religious leaders 'jointly blessed' Downtown Line 2 depot ahead of Dec 27 opening". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Factsheet : Gali Batu MRT Depot". Land Transport Authority. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018.
  10. ^ Tan, Christopher (15 October 2019). "Siemens, Alstom to set up signalling simulation centres here". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Factsheet: Simulation Facilities for Signalling System Testing". Land Transport Authority. 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021.
  12. ^ "mp14_44_3.pdf" (PDF). Urban Redevelopment Authority. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  13. ^ 李静仪 (9 November 2018). 应付日益增加乘客量 兀兰将建本地第二个多层巴士车厂 [To cope with increasing ridership, Woodlands will build its second local multi-storey bus depot] (in Chinese). Lianhe Zaobao. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  14. ^ Ng, Michelle (3 September 2021). "Troubled contractor Greatearth files to wind up company, a week after shock BTO site closures". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2025.

Bibliography

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