Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B

Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B is the third rolling stock used in Singapore's original Mass Rapid Transit network, operating on the North South Line and the East West Line since early 2000.^[1] 21 trainsets of 6 cars each were purchased, and it is the first rolling stock to feature VVVF insulated-gate bipolar transistor traction control system. Kawasaki Heavy Industries manufactured 66 cars and Nippon Sharyo manufactured 60 cars respectively with no comparable differences, having built to agreed specifications. These trains are the third generation of rolling stock to be used on the two lines. These trains were fitted with Mobitec MobiLED electronic destination displays for train run numbers.

Majority of them are operating on North South Line with only a handful servicing on the East West Line.

Exterior design

The front of the train sports a more slanted and streamlined look, with the run number display in Orange LED Display. The sides of the train, which is a standard livery, consists of a shiny black area covering the middle portion of the train from just above the windows to below the windows, followed by a bold red stripe and a thinner grey stripe at the bottom of the train.

Interior design

Label in C751B train in Singapore, showing logo of Nippon Sharyo

All cars are equipped with 6 LCD per car (which have since been deactivated), and all except trainset 347/348 which features LED displays (which have been replaced by the VFDs of the STARIS). These used to show rail travel information, commercials and movie trailers. They also come with more grab poles, wider seats, more space near the doors and wheelchair space. The interior and exterior design of the train have been improved, incorporating a much sleeker design. The LED displays however have seen little usage after a new series of voice announcements were introduced across the system in mid-2008. All VPIS were removed to make way for the STARIS by 2010. In 2013, support bars are added to the seats with hand grips, and the middle handrails with hand grips are configured to join across nearly one carriage, as such all grabpoles that branched out into three are replaced by regular single grabpoles.

The colour layout on these trains are also different from their earlier counterparts. Cars 1 and 6 use a sort of pinkish-purple color on the seats, while cars 2 and 5 use a different shade of blue, and the middle cars using a bluish-green. All door panels and walls are white, which is a standard appearance of all SMRT trains.

Experimental programmes

In 2001, when the Changi Airport Line was opened, some of these trains plying the East West Line had luggage racks installed. These luggage racks were installed in every carriage of the train, taking up the space of two seats next to the door at the end of each carriage. The purpose of those racks were to let travellers heading to the airport, who usually carry a large amount of luggage, to have a space to place their bags easily.

However, these luggage racks were always underutilised. Travellers preferred holding on to their bags where they were standing or sitting, as opposed to placing them on the luggage racks, probably due to convenience and fear of theft. Some commuters were also complaining that these racks took up critically needed space which could be occupied by other passengers which often filled the train. Furthermore, the service to Changi Airport was cancelled and replaced by a shuttle service to and from Tanah Merah station, dismissing the need to provide these racks for non-airport bound train services. Therefore, in 2003, trains with the luggage racks had them removed, and replaced with an empty standing area, with a dual purpose of serving as a wheelchair area.

Energy efficient LED lights are on trial in train car 1328 and 3328.

STARIS Version 2.0 was installed in 2010 but however it was uninstalled in 2016.

Train withdrawal incidents

On 13 April 2002, a fault was detected in a C751B train and it was subsequently withdrawn to Changi Depot for investigations. As the train was under warranty, the engineers from the manufacturers of the train and gearbox were flown in on 21 April. They subsequently detected metal fragments in the gearboxes, and those of another 20 trains. SMRT immediately withdrew all 21 C751B trains and suspended the Boon Lay – Changi Airport train through service, replacing it with the Tanah Merah – Changi Airport shuttle service. Train frequencies were also adjusted until early May, when 8 trains returned to service. By June 2002, all C751B trains had been returned to service and the through service was resumed.

Train Formation

The configuration of a C751B in revenue service is DT-M1-M2-M2-M1-DT

The car numbers of the trains range from x311 to x352, where x depends on the carriage type. Individual cars are assigned a 4 digit serial number by the rail operator SMRT Trains. A complete six-car trainset consists of an identical twin set of one driving trailer(DT) and two motor cars(M1 & M2) permanently coupled together.

For example, set 345/346 consists of carriages 3345, 1345, 2345, 2346, 1346 and 3346

• The first digit identifies the car number, where the trailer cars has a 3, the second and fifth cars has a 1 & the middle cars has a 2.
• The second digit is always a 3, part of the identification numbers
• The third digit and fourth digit are the train identification numbers. A full length train of 6 cars have 2 different identification numbers, one for the first 3 cars, and the same number plus 1, for the other three.
  • Kawasaki Heavy Industries built sets 311-312, 315-316, 319-320, 323-324, 327-334, 343-344, 347-348 and 351-352.
  • Nippon Sharyo co-built sets 313-314, 317-318, 321-322, 325-326, 335-342, 345-346 and 349-350.

The reason why they used 311/312 instead of 301/302 is because of the Money train on Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151 whose car numbers are 301/302 but they were sold to Singapore Armed Forces.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)#Trains.

• Manufacturer's Information for C751B, Kawasaki Heavy Industries 日本語
• Manufacturer's Information for C751B, Nippon Sharyo 日本語
• Main fleet info for C751Bs

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