Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang C151C


The Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CRRC Qingdao Sifang C151C is the sixth generation of rolling stock introduced on the existing North South lines of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit system.
Twelve trains were purchased. They were delivered between 2017 and 2019, and were tested before the full service in 2019. The first was delivered on 27 October 2017. The interior design was unveiled on 28 February 2018 at Tuas Depot with two trains showcased. This brought the total number of trains operating on the NSEWL to 198 trainsets, up from the previous 186. The addition tripled the number of trains on the North-South and East-West Lines when they were first opened.
The first three C151C trainsets commenced revenue service on 30 September 2018 on the North-South Line. The last trainset entered revenue service on 23 March 2019. As of early 2020, they are only regulated to revenue service on the North South Line.

Tender

The tender for trains under the contract 151C was closed on 14 May 2015 with three bids. The LTA has shortlisted all of them and the tender results were published on 22 September 2015.
S/NName of tendererAmount
1CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd.134,608,695.70
2Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. / Kawasaki Heavy Industries Pte Ltd & CRRC Qingdao Sifang Consortium136,800,000.00
3Hyundai Rotem136,799,928.00

Design

The C151C is the first MRT rolling stock on the NSEWL to be fitted with fold-up seats.
The C151C retains the design and specifications from the earlier C151B trains but sports LTA's new corporate livery already introduced on the C951 trains, incorporating green and red stripes against a white background.
The C151C is the second train type to be equipped with STARIS 2.0, which consists of two LCD screens displaying travel information and ads. Travel information includes upcoming stations, door closing warnings and attractions near the station.
The C151C features an improved current collector device which can report information to the Train Integrated Management System if any collector shoe is sheared off the bogie.

Equipment

Main propulsion controller

The C151C trains are the fifth commuter type Electric Multiple Unit made in Japan to feature electric systems fully manufactured by Fuji Electric. Propulsion is controlled by VVVF inverter with two-level IGBT semiconductor controller, rated at 415 kV. Each inverter unit controls two motors on one bogie, and one motor car features two such units. Motors are three-phase AC induction type, model MLR109, with a maximum output of 140 kW.

Train formation

The configuration of a C151C in revenue service is DT-M1-M2-M2-M1-DT
The car numbers of the trains range from x701 to x724, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a four-digit serial number. A complete six-car trainset consists of an identical twin set of one driving trailer and two motor cars permanently coupled together. For example, set 705/706 consists of carriages 3705, 1705, 2705, 2706, 1706, and 3706.
The award of the C151C turnkey contract to the Kawasaki Heavy Industries & CSR Qingdao Sifang consortium was briefly politicised in Singapore, when the defects from the relatively new C151A trains constructed by the same consortium were made public on 5 July 2016. This was after Gerald Giam from the Workers Party, commenting through an official Facebook post, doubted the decision by the Land Transport Authority to award the subsequent contracts, specifically both the design and supply of C151C and CT251 rail cars to the same consortium in 2015. This was despite the Land Transport Authority and operator SMRT Trains officially acknowledging the C151A crack defects as early as 2013.

Incidents

Originally, only two units were supposed to commence revenue service on 30 September 2018 on the NSL. However, one unit suffered from signalling faults after being launched on the line in less than a hour, and as a result the train was withdrawn back to Bishan Depot as a precautionary measure. A substitute train was then deployed to replace it.