The station was first announced on 29 August 2012 as part of the Thomson Line (TSL). Contract T223 for the design and construction of Maxwell Station was awarded to Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure Pte Ltd for S$222 million (US$ million) in April 2014. Construction began in 2014 with an expected completion date of 2021. On 15 August 2014, the
Land Transport Authority (LTA) further announced that the TSL would merge with the Eastern Region Line to form the Thomson–East Coast Line (TEL). Maxwell station, part of the proposed line, would be constructed as part of TEL3, consisting of 13 stations between
Mount Pleasant and
Gardens by the Bay. With restrictions imposed on construction due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the TEL3 completion date was pushed by a year to 2022. Three COVID-19 confirmed cases were detected at the station construction site on 2 April 2020. A stop work order was issued as a result. On 9 March 2022, Transport Minister
S. Iswaran announced in Parliament that TEL 3 would open in the second half of that year. As confirmed during a visit by Iswaran to this station and station on 7 October 2022, the station began operations on 13 November. ==Description==