S$1.345-COMD.SI/S$1.75-SBST.SI
It is as expected by many that the LTA has awarded SBS Transit the licence to operate the 42km Downtown Line, for 15-20 years, instead of 30-40 years as is the case for all 3 existing lines (North-South / East West Lines operated by SMRT and the North East Line by SBS.)
SBS will pay Licence Charge of $1.6 bln over a 19-year period, from 2013 when Stage 1 will commence (with 6 stations) to Stage 3 (16 stations) in 2017, by when daily ridership is projected to hit 700,000. (Stage 2 will open in 2015 with 12 stations.)
Given the downgrading of SMRT because of the associated costs since the commencement of the first phase of Circle Line in May ’09, it is premature for Comfort Delgro / SBS to celebrate the win:
a. like the Circle Line, Downtown Line is a mediumcapacity system, with each train caving 3
carriages, instead of 6 for the older lines, ie SBS will have to run more frequencies;
b. as SBS’ CEO right puts it: now, the real work begins.
There is therefore “even more” justification for maintaining our preference for SMRT (up 1 cents to $1.77 on Monday), now that SBS will be running the Downtown Line
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