During the construction of the station, the former Outram Prison and Outram Primary School were acquired for the construction of the station, and construction began in 1984. The contract for the construction of the tunnels between the Tiong Bahru and Maxwell stations was awarded to a Japanese joint venture Ohbayashi-Gumi/Okumura Corporation on November 1983 at a sum of S$73.85 million. During the construction, a slip road from Outram Road to Eu Tong Seng Street had to be closed and sewer pipes had to be moved. The tunnel from Outram Park to Tiong Bahru was completed in September 1984. In the initial stages of planning for the North East line in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, this was initially planned to be the southern terminus of the line. But in 1993, the LTA decided to extend the NEL to HarbourFront station, after noting that many people liked to go to the World Trade Centre, but it was redeveloped from 2000 to 2003, and Sentosa Island. The East West line station upgrading was completed on 12 October 2002. Construction began in September 2000 for their lift access in the station for the disabled. The lift originally goes from level 1 to basement 2, skipping basement 1. It was extended to basement 3 when the North East line opened on 20 June 2003.
On 15 August 2014, LTA announced that Outram Park station would be part of the proposed Thomson East-Coast line. The station will be constructed as part of Phase 3, consisting of 13 stations between Mount Pleasant and Gardens by the Bay, and is expected to be completed in 2021. The Contract T220 for the design and construction of Outram Park TEL Station and associated tunnels was awarded to Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd at a sum of S$301 million in May 2014. Construction started in 2014, with completion expected in 2021.
Incidences
A false bomb threat call was made on 17 August 2007 at 11.16 pm from a public phone located at the concourse of the MRT station and the police arrested two suspects on 24th of that month when a 13-year-old boy was turned in by the police while his 15-year-old friend was arrested not long after. Upon consultation, the younger of the two was let off with a warning while the older of the two was charged in a Juvenile Court. The North East line sector of the station was the site of a rare police shooting incident, in which a 43-year-old Lim Bock Song, who had earlier fatally stabbed odd-job worker Tan Ah Chang at a coffeeshop at Jalan Kukoh, was shot by a police officer after threatening the officer with the knife on 6 March 2008 at 3:35 pm. Four platform screen doors in the centre in the direction of HarbourFront were affected due to the police cordon which lasted two hours and passengers had to use other doors to board and alight. However, train services were unaffected. A coroner's inquiry conducted for the shooting of Lim Bock Song ruled on 12 January 2010 that the shooting was a case of justifiable homicide. The man was shot after charging at police officer Azli Othman with a knife. District Judge Yeo ruled the shooting was without any criminal intent. On 29 July 2008, a man made a phone call to the police about a false bomb threat at 1.07 pm at the concourse area of the station. The man is believed to be in his 40s and is of fair complexion. He was wearing a blue and white polo T-shirt, beige Bermudas and black slippers. He was seen leaving the MRT station with two plastic bags – one red and the other white. On 15 March 2012, more than 117,000 commuters were affected during a peak hour train breakdown between Dhoby Ghaut and HarbourFront, caused by faulty overhead power cables at the tunnel of the Outram Park that had snapped. A second problem was discovered relating to electricity insulation, delaying the service further. Train services resumed at 4.35 pm after nearly 10 hours of disruption making it the third breakdown in 4 months. Subsequently, the Land Transport Authority intends to impose financial penalties amounting to S$400,000 on SBS Transit for the train service disruption along the North East line on that day. On 10 January 2013, train services in both directions on the North East line was disrupted due to a power fault. At about 9.50 a.m., SBS Transit said no train service is available between HarbourFront and Outram Park. Train services fully resumed at 4.35 p.m. Outram Park was the temporary terminus from Pasir Ris during the early closures, late openings and full closures from 8 December 2017 to 31 December 2017.
