Somerset MRT station


Somerset MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station on the North South Line in Orchard planning area, Singapore. It is one of the three stations located along the popular shopping belt, Orchard Road. The station connects to Comcentre, Singapore Power Building, Skate Park, , Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, Centrepoint Shopping Centre, Mandarin Orchard, The Heeren, Faber House, Orchard Point, Peranakan Place and Emerald Hill.
The section of tracks between this station and Dhoby Ghaut MRT station is the shortest between any two MRT Stations on the North South Line, taking approximately 1 minute for a train to travel between these two stations.

History

Prior to the construction of the station, it was named Killiney. It was renamed to Somerset in 1985. The construction required a slight diversion of Somerset Road from January 1984. Somerset MRT station was completed on 22 July 1985 after the three-month delay that was due to the difficult ground conditions and problems with backup machinery caused by tunneling from the Orchard MRT station to Somerset MRT station.
Construction of the lifts started in 28 June 2000 and were completed on 11 July 2002. Exit B of the station was heavily renovated from January 2007 to July 2009. An additional entrance, Exit D, was opened in conjunction with Orchard Gateway on 25 April 2014 along with Exit C which also connects to Orchard Gateway.
A call was made from a public telephone at the station concourse at about 5 p.m. on 26 September 2007 about a bomb at the station. The police arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the incident two days later on the morning of 28 September 2007 after finding out that there was no bomb.