Design and construction of Bukit Panjang LRT, Singapore

The Bukit Panjang light rapid transit (LRT) system, a groundbreaking project for the Land Transport Authority of Singapore, was designed to serve as a feeder to the existing mass rapid transit network and the Bukit Panjang bus interchange. The main civil engineering elements consist of 7·8 km of twin-track elevated guideway, 14 stations and a maintenance depot with an operation control centre. The system was completed and opened to the public in November 1999. This paper discusses the design and construction of the LRT guideway, which consists mainly of precast prestressed concrete segmental box girder bridges with epoxy glued joints and internally prestressed tendons. The bridge decks are predominantly simply supported spans ranging from15 to 34 m; however, a few special decks are made continuous due to stability requirements. Two overhead launching girders were employed for erecting the guideway. Due to specific site constraints and system requirements, the alignment was characterised by numerous tight curves with a minimum horizontal radius of 60 m. The geometry control method and construction equipment, such as the casting cells and the launching girders, were tailor-made in order to tackle the unconventional situation. Some operation and maintenance aspects of the system are also covered in this paper.