'' on 11 February 1996
Planning and construction In November 1994,
Communication Minister Mah Bow Tan announced that the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) was conducting studies on the feasibility of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system in the estate of Bukit Panjang. Subsequently, Bukit Panjang was one of the two locations selected for the construction of the first LRT systems in Singapore in December 1994, the other being at
Queenstown and linked to
Buona Vista MRT station, the latter of which was eventually not built. The tender for the design and construction of the LRT system in Bukit Panjang were called in December 1994, receiving eight bids. In February 1996, then-Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong announced that an LRT system in Bukit Panjang had been given the go-ahead, and was expected to be completed in three years. An exhibition about the system was organised by the
Land Transport Authority (LTA) in April 1996, featuring models and maps of the stations on the line, and a booth at which visitors could vote for the colours of the rolling stock, and the shape of the station roofs. In the same month, the contract for the system's design and construction was awarded to a consortium consisting of
Keppel Corporation,
Gammon, and
Adtranz for . On 5 August 1997, the LTA awarded
SMRT a license to operate the LRT due to its experience with the MRT system. Testing on the line was underway by December 1998 and it commenced operations on 6 November 1999.
Reliability issues Upon opening, the system suffered from reliability issues, having 32 service disruptions in its first six months of operation. Safety concerns regarding the system were also raised in
Parliament in the wake of a collision between two trains in November 2000 that injured five passengers. Most of these issues were rectified by September 2001, and, by May 2002, the system was able to attain the government's desired service levels. However, a subsequent five-day service disruption in October 2002, caused by a loose guide wheel, led the LTA to conduct an audit on the maintenance procedures carried out for the line. The audit found that the training and procedures for maintenance were adequate, but the actual maintenance work was not properly done, and the LTA gave the line's operator, Singapore LRT, six months to rectify the lapses found in the audit. To rectify the issues with the system, Singapore LRT spent to replace worn-out wires in the line's signalling system, from December 2003 to April 2004. Service levels on the line had improved to adequate standards by 2003, but a subsequent disruption of service in May 2004 led to the line's operator initiating an internal probe into the matter. Besides the reliability issues, the line was doing poorly financially, with Singapore LRT making annual losses of around to . Ridership on the line was also low, with around 40,000 commuters daily, 10,000 less than needed to break even, and was not expected to increase further, given a development slowdown in Bukit Panjang.
Upgrades and capacity increases By 2010, ridership on the line had increased significantly, to around 47,000 commuters daily, and was expected to increase further. As the trains on the line had limited capacity to meet the demand, in November 2010, SMRT announced that they were contemplating capacity increases on the line. These capacity increases, in the form of 13 additional train cars, and a supplementary bus service between heavily used stations on the line and Choa Chu Kang, were announced by then-Transport Minister
Lui Tuck Yew in July 2011. In addition, SMRT contracted Bombardier to conduct a study on how to improve the line's reliability. The new trains entered service on the line in 2015. In a bid to further improve reliability, in June 2015, the LTA and SMRT announced upgrades to the track, signalling systems, and electrical systems along the line, as faults in these areas had caused most of the service disruptions on the line. Later that month, Lui elaborated that the upgrades would comprise a 12-month study period to identify issues to rectify, and a several years long period in which the upgrades would be implemented. Additional staff were also deployed to improve service recovery and platform barriers were installed at all stations along the line by 2017. In October 2016, as the line was approaching its 20-year design lifespan, LTA and SMRT announced that they were considering several courses of action regarding the system. These comprised the renewal of the existing system, or its complete replacement, either with a new system or with buses. On 8 March 2017, it was announced that the system's power supply, signalling, rolling stock, track, and stations along with a new signalling system would be upgraded. The authorities ruled out scrapping the entire system or changing to automated guided vehicles drawn on self-power as it would cause major traffic congestion. On 3 October 2017, a tender for the revamp was called. To improve service reliability in the interim period, SMRT shortened operating hours on all Sundays from 12 November 2017 until the end of that year, which SMRT said allowed for additional time for maintenance. On 7 March 2018, LTA awarded the contract for $344 million to Bombardier, the original supplier of the rolling stock, to fully upgrade the system. This includes overhauling the line's signalling system with a
communications-based train control (CBTC) system for a tighter headway between each train and thus, reducing waiting time. The 19 first-generation trains will be removed from service and replaced while the 13 second-generation trains will be refurbished. These upgrades are slated to be completed by 2026. ==Network and operations==