Sentosa Express

Former Sentosa Monorail system which ran between 1982 and 2005

New Sentosa Express system undergoing trial runs in 2006

In June 2002, the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) awarded a S$78 million (US$43.56 million) contract to Japanese subsidiary Hitachi Asia to build the Sentosa Express, which was part of a ten-year redevelopment plan for Sentosa, an offshore island south of the Singapore main island dedicated to tourism.[1] It was to replace the Sentosa Monorail which had been in operation since 1982, with the previous monorail planned for demolition by 2005. Unlike its predecessor which ran in a loop around the island, the Sentosa Express was planned to cross the sea and interchange with the North East Line of the MRT on the mainland, with three stations on Sentosa itself, making up a total of four stations.[2][3]

Construction of the system began in June 2003, took three and a half years, and was completed in December 2006, costing S$140 million (US$88.11 million).[4] Two of three stations on the island, Imbiah and Beach stations, opened with the line on 15 January 2007 along with VivoCity station on the mainland, which had been integrated into the new VivoCity shopping mall.[5][6]

The third station Waterfront was planned to open in tandem with the then-in development integrated resort Resorts World Sentosa, but was demolished a year later in January 2008 for redevelopment. A spokesman from the Sentosa Leisure Group said that the station had been built before plans for the integrated resort were finalised.[7] The station opened on 1 February 2010 as part of a phased opening of the entire resort complex.[8]

To cater to an increase in passenger traffic, the SDC awarded a S$30 million (US$23.68 million) upgrading contract to Hitachi Asia in November 2014. The signalling system was to be upgraded to a communications-based train control system, with the provision of two additional train cars,[9][10] and to be operational by the end of 2017.[11]

The daily first and last train timings of both VivoCity and Beach stations are 07:00 and 00:00 hours.[12] Trains run at an average frequency of three minutes throughout the day. The entire route, from one terminus to the other, takes eight minutes.[4]

Travel within Sentosa (between Resorts World and Beach stations) and from Sentosa back to the mainland is free of charge. Travel from the mainland to Sentosa is charged but during the COVID-19 pandemic period until 31 March 2023, travel was free.[13]

Commuters can scan the CEPAS (EZ-Link, Concession, NETS FlashPay/NETS Prepaid and SimplyGo EZ-Link/SimplyGo Concession) cards and NETS/credit/debit cards on the VivoCity station's faregates for entry payment from the mainland. Those who are using NETS/credit/debit cards must use the special entrance on the left at VivoCity station. Fares are as follows:

• $4: All other cards (including credit/debit cards)
• $2: Senior Citizens, Persons with Disabilities, Workfare Transport Concession Card, Primary, Secondary, Junior Colleges, ITE and Polytechnic Concession Card
• $0: Child Concession Card

Legend

Elevated	Line terminus	Transfer outside paid area
Ground-level	Wheelchair accessible	Bus interchange
Underground	Civil Defence Shelter	Other transportation modes

Sentosa Express Track Diagram

Station name / colour code	Images	Interchange; Adjacent transportation	Opened	Initial name	Working name
VivoCity		North East Line    Circle Line  ―  HarbourFront ―  Singapore Cable Car Mount Faber Line  HarbourFront Centre   Singapore Cruise Centre	15 January 2007	Sentosa	Gateway
Resorts World		Resorts World Sentosa	1 February 2010	Waterfront	Sentosa
Imbiah		Singapore Cable Car Mount Faber Line  Singapore Cable Car Sentosa Line	15 January 2007	—	Merlion
Beach		Beach Station Bus Terminal			Palawan

S$26 million was spent on the elevated stations and the depot next to Beach station.[4] VivoCity station is the only station of the line on the mainland; the rest are on Sentosa. It is also the only one with full-height platform screen doors and a bay platform using the Spanish solution. The other stations on Sentosa island are not air-conditioned and are the first train stations in the country to utilise half height platform screen doors by Fangda.

Like the Mass Rapid Transit, stations have bi-directional escalators and a lift to take passengers from the station concourse to the platforms, except VivoCity station which has both on the same level within VivoCity on the mainland.

The Sentosa Express is the first system to use Hitachi Rail's small-type, straddle–beam monorail with a capacity of about 184[4] passengers per train. With a total of seven two-car, 25-metre (82 ft)-long[4] trains of different colours each—namely green, orange, blue, purple, pink, red and yellow; the pink and red trains were added to the original fleet of four on 1 December 2009; the yellow train was added on 24 November 2017. In 2015, the orange train was painted into a multi-coloured livery train. In addition, there are 2 other yellow maintenance trains.

Daily, five monorails are picked to be deployed on the line while the other two remain in the depot.

A switch over from the fixed block Hitachi digital ATP/ATS to the moving block Hitachi wireless CBTC-ATC was conducted in November 2017.[14] The new CBTC system uses wireless communication to gather data on trains' locations and speeds so that the headway between trains can be reduced. This will reduce the travel times for passengers, and allowing more trains to run together for greater capacity. With the implementation of the driverless CBTC system, all train cab windows are opened except during manual operation. Train Captains are still present in the front train cab to manage and monitor the security on the train.

• Sentosa
• Sentosa Monorail – a dismantled monorail system that used to ferry visitors around Sentosa from 1982 to 2005
• Rail transport in Singapore

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sentosa Express.

• Official website
• Monorail Society: Sentosa Express Construction Gallery