Boon Lay MRT Station

Not to be confused with Boon Keng MRT Station.

EW27  Boon Lay MRT Station 文礼地铁站 பூன் லே Stesen MRT Boon Lay Rapid transit
Platform level of Boon Lay Station
Station statistics
Address	301 Boon Lay Way Singapore 649846
Coordinates	1°20′19.98″N 103°42′22.35″E
Lines	East West Line
Connections	Bus , Taxi
Structure	Elevated
Levels	2
Platforms	Island
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	6 July 1990
Accessible
Code	EW27
Services
Preceding station   Mass Rapid Transit   Following station Lakeside towards Pasir Ris East West Line Pioneer towards Joo Koon
Location

Boon Lay MRT Station (EW27) is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit station on the East West Line in Jurong, Singapore.

The station currently serves residents living in Boon Lay, Pioneer, Gek Poh, Nanyang and people working in Tuas, Tuas South, Pioneer Sector, Jurong Hill, Jurong Pier, Lok Yang, Benoi and Gul.

In addition, it serves people who travels to the Nanyang Technological University via bus services 179 or 199 and tourists going to Jurong Bird Park via bus services 194 or 251, as all these bus services originates from Boon Lay Bus Interchange.

Together with Boon Lay Bus Interchange and Jurong Point Shopping Mall, it is part of the Boon Lay Integrated Public Transport Hub.

History

The station was opened on 6 July 1990, then as the Western terminal station for the East West Line, with the station code 'W12', that was later changed to 'EW27' in 2001.

This station was built to serve residents living in the then-undeveloped Jurong West New Town and people working in the then mostly-undeveloped Tuas and Jurong Industrial Estate, since it was the only MRT station serving these areas, covering the areas Westwards from Boon Lay. As these areas develop, passenger volume has increased, leading to much congestion at this station during peak hours.

However, the condition was improved when the Boon Lay MRT extension was constructed and commenced service on 28 February 2009 with an addition of Pioneer MRT Station and Joo Koon MRT Station. With Pioneer MRT Station serving the western portion of Jurong West New Town and Pioneer Sector, and Joo Koon MRT Station serving Joo Koon, Boon Lay MRT station now serves only the eastern portion of Jurong West New Town and 1 less industrial area and ceased to be the western terminal of the East West Line.

The condition will be further improved when the Tuas West MRT Extension opens, relieving more load off the station, such as Gul, Tuas, Tuas South. Should the bus services in the industrial areas be rationalised after the extension opens, even more loads can be removed off the station, such as Benoi, Lok Yang and parts of Pioneer Sector. This will mean that eventually, the station only needs to serve the industrial areas of Jurong Pier, Jurong Hill and Pioneer Sector, just one-third of the original load the station had to serve when it was still the western terminal of the East West Line.

Etymology

This station was named after Boon Lay Way, the street along the station, although the actual town of Boon Lay is located about 1 kilometer away.

Despite that, there could be a possibility of it being named after the town of Boon Lay SMC, which existed 1976 from to 2001, where there's a likelihood that this station was within the boundary of the SMC during the SMC's existence.

Platform Screen Doors

As with most of the above-ground stations built in the past along the East West Line, it was initially built without Platform Screen Doors to prevent commuters from falling onto the train tracks. After several successful test at Jurong East, Yishun and Pasir Ris and eventually, installation of the half-height screen doors. On June 30, 2011, all of the screen doors have been installed and started operations.

Platform Level Of Boon Lay MRT Station without PSD

QR code shopping wall

Similar to those at train stations in South Korea, this is an interactive media launched on 7 December 2011 by SMRT Corporation in partnership with Cold Storage to enhance the commuters' travelling experience. Using a camera phone with QR code reader installed, one can purchase the items displayed on the media by simply flashing their camera phones on the items and the items would be delivered to them upon payment through the various credit cards.

Boon Lay MRT Station, alongside Bugis MRT Station, was the first to have such media installed.

Incidents

2010 incident

On 12 August 2010, a 20-year-old autistic male was found sitting on the tracks in Boon Lay MRT station Westbound track. A commuter saw this and pressed the emergency stop plunger and soon the MRT staff arrived on the scene. They shouted to him to return to the platform but instead he started running towards Lakeside MRT Station. This resulted in the MRT staff giving chase, and this incident disrupted Joo Koon bound service for 10 minutes. He was later escorted by the MRT staff back to the station and arrested by the police, who charged him for attempted suicide.

2012 train disruption

Train services on the East West Line between Boon Lay and Joo Koon stations was delayed on January 8, 2012 due to a suspected power fault. SMRT said that at about 2.00pm, train services were back to normal. A SMRT spokesperson said that trains running in both directions had to move slower due to wet tracks along the aboveground tracks.

To maintain normal train service frequency along the unaffected stretches of the East West Line, one westbound train was turned around at Lakeside station as a precautionary measure. The fault was rectified at about 1.00pm.

Station Layout

L2 Platforms	Platform A	East West Line towards  EW1  Pasir Ris (→)
	Island platform
	Platform B	East West Line towards  EW29  Joo Koon (←)
L1	EWL Concourse	Faregates, Ticketing Machines, Station Control, Boon Lay Xchange
	Street Level	Jurong Point, Boon Lay Bus Interchange

• 

  thumb|A C151 train entering the station

• 

  thumb|Exterior view of Boon Lay MRT Station

• 

  thumb|Interior of Boon Lay MRT Station before the Joo Koon Extension opened with the MRT train, taken on the current West-bound Platform.

External links

• LTA - Other Rail Projects
• LTA - New Releases - Expanding The Rail Network: LTA To Build Boon Lay MRT Extension
• omy - 新闻 News - 红衣队铁轨上追捕玩命青年 (Chinese news article. Literally means "omy - News - Red Man Team on tracks chasing a teen who played his life." where SMRT staffs has a uniform of Red T-shirt.)