SINGAPORE: Commuters on the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) network will need to take note of temporary service adjustments later this year, as the Sengkang West Inner Loop will be closed from April 19 to October 18, 2026 to facilitate depot expansion works.
The move comes as the Land Transport Authority (LTA) expands and renews the SPLRT fleet to meet growing demand in the area.
Expanding the LRT fleet
The SPLRT fleet is currently being expanded from 25 one-car Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) and 16 two-car LRVs to a fully two-car fleet of 33 LRVs. Since July 2025, LTA has progressively introduced new two-car LRVs to replace the first-generation trains.
By the end of February 2026, seven new two-car LRVs will already be in passenger service. The remaining 18 will be deployed progressively after depot expansion works are completed.
Moreover, to help support the larger fleet’s increased volume, the SPLRT depot will be expanded from 3.5 hectares to 11.1 hectares. When completed in 2027, the expanded depot will include additional reception tracks and workshop tracks, allowing for greater capacity and more efficient maintenance operations.
Why the Inner Loop is closing
To connect the new reception tracks from the expanded depot to the existing SPLRT mainline, the Sengkang West Inner Loop, via SW1 Cheng Lim from Sengkang LRT station, will be closed for six months. The works will involve heavy modification of existing tracks, connecting the new reception tracks, as well as installing and testing signalling systems and related equipment.
Additionally, extended working hours will inevitably be required to safely navigate these complex tasks. For these reasons, the closure of the Inner Loop will be necessary.
During this period, commuters can continue to use regular bus services and the Sengkang West Outer Loop via SW8 Renjong, which will operate as usual. To maximise capacity, the Outer Loop will be fully operated with two-car LRVs throughout the service adjustment.
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Shuttle bus services to be deployed to support commuters
To reduce additional travel time and ease peak-hour congestion, a dedicated shuttle bus service, Sengkang West Shuttle Bus Service A and B, will operate from Sengkang Bus Interchange during weekday morning and evening peak hours.
The shuttle buses will run from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., plying different routes in the morning and evening to better match commuter travel patterns. They will arrive at intervals of about three to five minutes and charge the same fares as LRT journeys.
Commuters who tap into the shuttle bus service on weekday mornings before 7:30 a.m. or between 9:00 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. will be eligible for Travel Smart Journeys rewards. This provides equivalent cost savings to those who tap into SPLRT stations under the free morning off-peak rail travel scheme.
To help residents adjust, the shuttle bus service will begin on April 13 2026, which is one week before the actual LRT service adjustment starts. It will cease once regular service on the Sengkang West Inner Loop resumes.
The LTA announced that to help mitigate problems that may arise, crowd marshals and staff will be stationed at affected stations to assist commuters.
Commuters are advised to plan their journeys in advance and check the MyTransport.SG mobile app, as well as official social media channels of LTA, SMRT and SBS Transit for the latest updates.
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Netizens express concerns
As with most transport adjustments, the announcement has drawn mixed reactions online. One Facebook user asked, “Shouldn’t there be extra shuttles for the residents of these estates in the morning to reach the station?”
Another netizen commented, “Can the map be more clearer [sic]? The elderly wouldn’t be able to understand better.” In response, someone replied, “Agree with you. Hope LTA will also station a few staff to guide passengers, at least for the first weeks?”
Others questioned the operational assumptions behind the service plan. One netizen wrote, “The planning team is holding a bold assumption that commuters staying at Thaggam to Cheng Lim would be taking LRT assuming that they are able to get onto the dual-car LRT to Sengkang AND residents staying from Fernvale to Renjong to take the shuttle bus during morning peak.”
Short-term inconvenience for long-term gains
While the six-month closure of the Sengkang West Inner Loop will undoubtedly inconvenience some commuters, the works form part of a broader effort to enhance rail capacity and reliability in the growing Sengkang and Punggol estates.
Such large-scale infrastructure upgrades inevitably attract criticism and scrutiny. However, these improvements are ultimately aimed at strengthening the overall public transport network in Singapore; making it more reliable, resilient and better equipped to serve commuters in the years ahead.
In other news, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers foiled an attempt to smuggle a large haul of e-vaporisers and related products into Singapore via Tuas Checkpoint earlier this month.
Read the full story here: ICA seizes over 36,000 vaping and heat-not-burn products hidden in cosmetics shipment at Tuas Checkpoint
