Newton

Newton

Newton is an underground station on the North South Line and the Downtown Line. It's located around the **Newton Food Centre**.

### History

The contract for the design and construction of Newton Circus station was awarded to a joint venture between French Dragages et Travaux Publics and Sembawang Shipyard at S$43 million (US$31.16 million) in January 1984. The station was one of the stations on the line designated as a Civil Defence Shelter. To facilitate the construction, the segment of Scotts Road from Newton Circus to Orchard Road had to be diverted for about 28 months. In September, the station name was shortened to "Newton", and the site was shifted slightly towards Scotts Road instead of being underneath Newton Circus. On 21 May 1985, Newton station was one of four stations affected by flooding in the area.

During the construction, jet grouting was used to strengthen the soil, which required lane closures along Scotts Road. This was to address the varying ground conditions around the site. Voids were also discovered during the construction (on 21 October 1985 and 18 May 1986), which led the closure of Scotts Road for safety reasons.

The station had an open house on 14 and 15 December 1987, which drew small crowds of about 1,200 people on the first day of its preview. The station opened for service on 12 December when the line extension to Outram Park was completed. An additional bus stop along Scotts Road was added for commuters at Newton station in light of the extension.

#### **Downtown Line**

The DTL station was first announced as part of DTL2 (Downtown line Stage 2) on 15 July 2008. Contract 920 for the design and construction of Newton station and tunnels was awarded to Sembawang Engineers and Constructors Pte Ltd at a contract value of $355.7 million (US$257.75 million) in September 2009, linking the DTL with the NSL at this station. Construction of the station was targeted to complete by 2015. Four 6.35 metres (20.8 ft) diameter EPS machines were used to construct the bored tunnels. The station opened on 27 December 2015 along with the other DTL Stage 2 stations.

As part of Exercise Station Guard 2018, on 14 February 2018, security measures were implemented at the DTL station, such as X-ray machines to scan through bags and walk-through metal detectors for screening commuters. The exercise was part of the emergency preparedness ground deployment exercise, to "test and validate our preparedness and responsiveness in the event of a heightened security environment".

### Incidents

In the morning of 13 February 2013, a fire broke out in an MRT tunnel just metres from the station, which disrupted train services on the NSL for over two hours and affected around 15,000 commuters. An electric cable 5 metres (16 ft) away from the station short-circuited which caused the fire. The fire was initially put out by staff using a fire extinguisher, but it reignited and caused smoke from the tunnel to travel to the station. The Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived at the station and managed to put out the fire. No one was injured during the incident.

On 7 & 8 October 2017, this station was the temporary terminus for northbound trains from Marina South Pier station during the **Bishan tunnel flooding**, while services were suspended between Ang Mo Kio and this station. Normal services on the NSL resumed at around 2 pm on 8 October 2017.

### Exits

(Northbound)
 B
(Southbound)
 C