For starters, balloon sculptors and clowns will be stationed on board NEL trains from 10.00am to 5.00pm to entertain the young, and young at heart.

Primary, secondary and tertiary students using their student concession cards on NEL for travel on 20 June 2004 will also be able to participate in a lucky draw and stand a chance to win attractive prizes, including a top prize of $500 cash.

The one-year mark is a milestone in the history of one of the world’s first fully automated underground heavy rail system. To date, the system has performed very well. System availability of 99.6% has been achieved – much higher than the target rate of 95%. To all our commuters, we would like to say thank you for your patience and cooperation during this teething period.

SBS Transit Chief Operating Officer, Mr Ong Boon Leong said: “We are proud of the achievements that NEL has attained in the first year of our operation. This would not have been possible without the considerable effort and dedicated work from our rail staff, as well as the understanding and cooperation from our commuters. A big thank you to our commuters for your support and patronage.”

In the year since launch, NEL has become the backbone of travel along the north-east corridor, providing commuters with convenience and cutting short travel time. NEL’s average daily ridership has grown by 23%, from 142,000 initially to 174,000 passenger trips now.

The highest ridership recorded on the NEL since we commenced passenger revenue service was on 3 January 2004, the day that the Official Opening and Light-Up of Chinatown Lunar New Year Festival was held. The 268,000 passenger trips made that day represented a 50% increase over a normal Saturday in December 2003.

In a bid to do something for the residents living along the north-east corridor, SBS Transit donated its first Sunday’s fare collection on NEL to the 24 Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) along NEL. A total of $165,000 was collected and distributed equally to the CCCs last year to help them fund community events for their residents.

We have also pledged our support to the community events and facilitated the rail service to make it convenient for commuters at several community events, such as New Year, Lunar New Year Countdown, festive shopping in Chinatown, and the Thaipusam celebration at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. SBS Transit operated extra trips and extended the operating hours for NEL to meet commuters needs.