Three new MRT stations open on 26 December, and the east finally gets its TEL interchange

Ten years after the first hoarding went up at Bedok Road, the brown line gets its last two stops the day after Christmas.

Put Saturday 26 December in the diary if you live anywhere between Siglap and Changi. The Land Transport Authority confirmed on 4 November that Bedok South, Sungei Bedok and Xilin stations open for passengers that day, which finishes the Thomson–East Coast Line and pushes the Downtown Line two stops past Expo. Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow called it a Christmas present for the east in his Facebook post that morning, and for once the civil-service phrasing is about right: the TEL has ended at Bayshore since June 2024, and anyone east of it has been changing to a bus.

The stop that changes things is Sungei Bedok, near the junction of Upper East Coast Road and Bedok Road. It is the eastern end of both lines and the second place after Stevens where you can walk between the brown and blue lines, so a Marine Parade resident can get to Tampines without going through town, and someone in Havelock can reach Changi Business Park in about 45 minutes instead of 70. LTA puts the saving at up to 25 minutes on that trip and up to 10 minutes on Marine Parade to Tampines. Bedok South sits on Upper East Coast Road by the Bedok South flats, and Xilin is underground at Xilin Avenue and Changi South Avenue 3, for the Changi South industrial estate and the business park. Sungei Bedok also gets underground bicycle parking, which is a first worth testing.

Why it has taken this long: Sungei Bedok was announced in 2014, started in 2016 and was due in 2024, then 2025, with the delays put down to the pandemic and tunnelling next to critical infrastructure. The whole TEL ran early closures and late openings between May and July this year so trains could be tested from Woodlands North all the way to the new depot. With these 4.3km added, the TEL has 29 stations over 42.8km and the DTL 37 stations over 44.6km, and LTA says more than 240,000 households are now within a 10-minute walk of a TEL station.

Our advice: the opening weekend will be busy with people riding it for the sake of it, so do your first proper trip on the Monday. The obvious destination is Bedok Food Centre on Bedok Road, the east's best reason to get off at Sungei Bedok, and the obvious use is a Changi Business Park commute that no longer needs a bus. LTA has not published first-train times or an open house; if either appears we will add it. The TEL's next stretch, to Changi Airport Terminal 5, is a story for the 2040s.

Good to know Thomson–East Coast Line Stage 5 (Bedok South TE30, Sungei Bedok TE31) and Downtown Line 3 Extension (Sungei Bedok DT37, Xilin DT36) open for passenger service on Saturday 26 December 2026, per LTA's news release of 4 November 2026. Sungei Bedok becomes the eastern end of both lines and the second TEL–DTL interchange after Stevens, with underground bicycle parking. Bedok South is on Upper East Coast Road; Xilin is under the junction of Xilin Avenue and Changi South Avenue 3. Standard rail fares; LTA has not published first-train times or an open house.

Want more of what’s new? Here’s everything else on the list.

TEL5 and DTL3e open 26 December: Bedok South, Sungei Bedok and Xilin | East Coast