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Singapore, January 30, 2026 — Alstom has handed over the last train in the 106-unit renewal order for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), marking the end of a fleet programme that started with a 66-car order in 2018 and grew after a second contract in 2019.
The handover puts 636 new metro cars into service across two of the island-state’s busiest MRT corridors, replacing rolling stock that has been in operation since the 1980s and 1990s. With the final train now in the hands of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SMRT Trains, the project becomes a reference point for how a highly dense, 24-hour city can retrofit its core rail backbone without stopping daily service.
All 106 six-car trains were assembled by Changchun Alstom Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd., a joint venture in northeast China. The programme drew on Alstom engineering centres in Singapore, China, Germany and Sweden, and was managed alongside LTA and SMRT Trains. While the trains were built off Alstom’s Movia platform, part of the wider Metropolis metro family, they were heavily customised to meet Singapore’s operating conditions: high ambient heat, frequent stopping patterns and heavy peak-hour loading.
Passengers will see a noticeable change inside the cabin. Instead of the older three-plus-two seating layout, the new trains use a longitudinal seating arrangement that opens up floor space and makes it easier for standing passengers to spread out. They also have multipurpose areas where wheelchairs, strollers and luggage can be secured, and all doors are step-free for easier boarding at station platforms. A single six-car set can seat up to 220 passengers, which is roughly in line with the previous generation, but the improved interior layout should reduce bottlenecks at door areas.
From an engineering perspective, the fleet renewal is about lowering energy use and maintenance burdens. The trains run on Flexx Urban bogies and are powered by Alstom’s Mitrac propulsion system. Regenerative braking converts kinetic energy back into electrical power during deceleration, feeding it into the network for other accelerating trains. Combined with a body design that uses almost 100% recycled materials in production, the new fleet supports the LTA’s long-term sustainability target for public transport.
The biggest operational addition is the use of automatic track inspection cameras mounted on the trains. These cameras continuously scan the rails and collect data on track geometry, allowing SMRT Trains to spot irregularities before they develop into failures. For a rail network that suffered from a series of major disruptions in the 2010s, the shift from fixed-interval inspections to condition-based monitoring is more than a technical upgrade — it is a central part of Singapore’s rail reliability strategy.
Yann Maixandeau, Alstom’s Managing Director for East Asia, called the final delivery a reflection of the strength of the partnership among the LTA, SMRT Trains and Alstom. In a statement, he said the new fleet “provides greater comfort, improved accessibility and the long-term performance required to support one of the world's most heavily used metro networks.”
The completion of this order also has practical consequences for the network’s daily operations. As newer trains have entered service, SMRT Trains has been able to phase out older cars and standardise maintenance routines. That process will accelerate now that the final new unit is on site. Having only one train type across a large portion of the fleet simplifies crew training, spare parts stock and fault diagnosis, which in turn improves availability rates and reduces the number of service-stopping incidents during peak hours.
From a regional standpoint, the successful close-out is a strong reference for Alstom in Southeast Asia. The NSEWL order was one of the largest metro fleet contracts that the French rail giant has executed in recent years, and the company has already moved the same Movia and Metropolis technology into other cities, including Hong Kong and Sydney. The Singapore experience shows that suppliers can manage multi-country engineering inputs and a factory in China while still meeting tight delivery deadlines for an operating metro.
For commuters on the North-South and East-West Lines, the practical impact of this delivery will be subtle but steady. Train frequencies will not necessarily rise overnight, since the signalling system still sets the pace, but the new rolling stock is designed to accelerate faster and brake more smoothly, reducing trip time variability. Combined with regenerative braking, these small improvements should make the daily commute quieter and more comfortable.
As of today, all 106 new trains are within the NSEWL fleet. The last batch will undergo final commissioning and revenue service trials before entering regular passenger service over the coming weeks. That will mark the true completion of the renewal, turning a milestone in manufacturing logistics into an everyday improvement for hundreds of thousands of rail users.
