Singapore’s Circle Line reached a milestone when Circle Line Stage 6 opened for passenger service on 12 July 2026. The extension adds three underground stations—Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road—between HarbourFront and Marina Bay, which “closes the loop” and enables through services around the full circle. With this final link in place, the Circle Line operates as a closed loop mostly within the Central Region, with a spur between Dhoby Ghaut and Promenade. It is a fully underground, driverless, medium-capacity MRT line, and travelling one full loop takes about 75 minutes.
The newly completed Circle Line is approximately 39.5 km long and has 33 stations. LTA also states the loop closure brings the total number of Circle Line stations to 33, including 12 interchange stations that connect to other rail lines, and that the completed line links to all existing train lines. The practical benefit is more route choice. LTA highlights that commuters gain alternative routes that can bypass busy interchanges at City Hall and Raffles Place, while Land Transport Guru describes the extension as creating a direct rail connection between Singapore’s south-western and south-eastern parts without requiring transfers via the city centre.
What Stage 6 Adds—and How Operations Change
Stage 6 itself is a 4 km extension with 3 stations, and it completes the orbital concept the Circle Line was built to deliver. LTA notes that more direct routes to the Central Business District, Marina Bay and the HarbourFront area are now available. The public timeline places the opening of the final stage on 12 July 2026, matching the same date cited across sources. For riders, there are also service-pattern details worth knowing. Land Transport Guru reports that on weekends, trains on the Dhoby Ghaut spur only operate until Stadium, and passengers travelling beyond Stadium need to transfer to an anticlockwise main-loop service.
Capacity planning was part of the loop-closure story. LTA states that 23 new trains were purchased to cater for the expected increase in passenger volume with the start of Stage 6 operations, with the first batch arriving in March 2022 and being progressively put into service from April 2026. LTA also quantifies the impact on the fleet: the purchase increases the existing Circle Line fleet by 36 per cent, from 64 to 87 trains. The new trains are manufactured and assembled in Spain, and LTA lists features such as a Condition Monitoring System for predictive maintenance, an Automatic Track Inspection system, and current collector shoe dislodgement detection.
Construction constraints also shaped how the final segment was delivered. LTA notes that Stage 6 was built in areas that are fairly dense and close to heritage sites, requiring special efforts so works do not affect buildings with historical and architectural significance. One highlighted example is Cantonment station, which LTA says has been sensitively integrated with the old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, a gazetted national monument. To facilitate construction, parts of the former train platforms were removed, and LTA adds that the canopy structures were fully reinstated with the completion of Cantonment station, retaining the sense of heritage and memories of the old platform area.
When did Circle Line Stage 6 open for passenger service?
How many stations and how much track did the Stage 6 extension add?
After the loop closure, how big is the Circle Line overall?
What train-capacity changes support the Singapore Circle Line Stage 6 2026 opening?
Are there any weekend service differences on the Dhoby Ghaut spur?
