Building the new Rochor and Little India stations The 12-station Downtown Line 2, which connects residents in the west to the city, will open on Dec 27. Among the stations that will open are Rochor station, which is near Sim Lim Square, and Little India, which is near Race Course Road and Road. At $803 million, the contract to build these stations was one of the highest ever given out and involved the challenge of diverting the Rochor Canal.

NORTH-SOUTH EXPRESSWAY (NSE) TUNNEL STRUCTURE NEW SECTION OF • A 180m-long, 40m-wide, 8m-high tunnel box was built as part of advance ROCHOR CANAL works for the NSE • Construction • Major construction for the expressway will begin next year. Work is expected involved a 1.05km to be completed by 2020 stretch of the canal from • NSE runs parallel to the Central Expressway to connect northern neighbourhoods to to the city • The canal which was visible at ground level, is now Rochor Canal Road underground • The new canal is around 20m wide, up Re-aligned canal from 14m to 17m wide, and is about 4m deep • This has increased its capacity by 30 Fluvial sand per cent NSE NSE 26m MARINE CLAY LAYER • This soft mouldable soil, which at times Concourse level Fluvial sand had the consistency of peanut butter, made construction more complex Platform level • To stabilise the Rochor station ground, 1m-wide concrete crosswalls Diaphragm Wall were built at 6m Old Alluvium intervals up to 3m-deep below the bottom of the station How Rochor Canal was moved • Rochor Canal was visible between Rochor Canal Road and • Rochor Canal Road was then moved back to its original position Sungei Road. Two pedestrian bridges were taken down to while Sungei Road was moved onto the deck. facilitate construction • A 300m section of new canal box was built between Clive Street • To move the canal, a temporary steel deck was built over and Sim Lim Tower the canal to divert Rochor Canal Road. A 150m-long • Water in the original canal was diverted into the new box via a temporary canal was built in front of Albert Court Hotel and temporary canal; the original canal was demolished and covered the Golden Wall Centre with soil The area in 2009 The area today

A temporary steel deck Rochor Canal Road

Sungei Road

The new canal

Text: JOANNA SEOW Photos: LAND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY, CHEW SENG KIM Source: LAND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY ST GRAPHICS