Lakeside MRT station is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the East–West line in Jurong West, Singapore. This station is built on the northwestern bank of the Jurong Lake, hence its name.
Lakeside station provides MRT access to residents living in Taman Jurong and Hong Kah. It is currently one of the three stations that serve Jurong West New Town; the other two being Boon Lay MRT station and Pioneer MRT station.
The station was first announced in October 1983 to be part of Phase II of the MRT system as Corporation station.[5] However, in September of 1984, it was renamed to Lakeside to tentatively reflect its location better.[6]
The contract for the station's viaducts was awarded to a joint venture between the Aoki Corporation and Lim Kim Ngah Construction for $64.75 million on November 1985 as a part of Contract 404[7] while the subcontract for the supply of post-tension cables and pre-cast beams during the construction of the viducts was awarded to Swiss-Singaporean company VSL Systems in July of 1986.[8] The contract for the design of the station's Chinese-style roof was awarded to Parson Brinckerhoff Asia Ltd and Maunsell Consultants in September 1985 as a part of a $3.6 million contract to give the Phase II MRT stations an "ethnic touch".[9] A week before the opening, there was an open house event for the Jurong stretch of the EWL, which included Lakeside station.[10] The station was opened on 5 November 1988 as part of the first portion of Phase II of the MRT system.[11] There was a primary school band performing in the station as a part of the opening ceremony.[12] After its opening, there was an issue with the station; the lack of an orderly taxi system. It was reported that many commuters would engage in queue-cutting as well as taxis haphazardly stopping in the middle of the road to pick up commuters and motorists picking up/dropping off people at the station's entrance despite there being a designated pick-up point at Yuan Ching Road.[13] The issue was promptly fixed by relocating the taxi stand from Yuan Ching Road to the main entrance of the station.[14]
The station served as the western terminal station for the East West line until Boon Lay station opened on 6 July 1990. When westbound train terminates at Platform B before it turnaround utilised nearby crossover to Platform A headed back to the East, before Boon Lay was fully opened on 6 July 1990.[citation needed]
As with most of the above-ground stations built in the past along the East–West line, it was built without platform screen doors. Following a rise in track intrusions as well as commuters slipping when rushing for the train, the LTA and SMRT decided to install platform screen doors.[15] After several successful tests at Jurong East, Yishun and Pasir Ris, half-height platform screen doors were eventually installed and commenced operations at Lakeside station by March 2012.[16] High-volume low-speed fans were installed and commenced operation by the first quarter of 2013.[17] Noise barriers were installed on the viaducts from Lakeside MRT station to Corporation Road by CCK Thomas Pte Ltd[18] as part of $17 million contract awarded on January 2015 to reduce sounds generated by trains. It was installed by 2018. Another set of noise barriers were designed installed by PBT Engineering Pte Ltd as part of contract awarded on October 2018.[19] The barriers were expected to be installed between the third quarter of 2020 and 2023[20] on the viaducts running from Jurong West Central 2 to Jalan Boon Lay.[21]
Lakeside station is on the EWL with the station code EW26, between Chinese Garden and Boon Lay stations.[22] Operated by SMRT Trains, the station alongside Boon Lay Way[23] and has three exits primarily serving the Hong Kah and Taman Jurong residential precincts.[24]
A feature of the station, the curved roof is based on traditional Chinese architecture. The roof was a part of SMRT's idea to give the stations an "ethnic touch".[9] Specifically, the designer of the station Scott Danielson of Parson Brinckerhoff said that "the more [he traveled], the more disturbed [he became by] architects failing to reflect their own culture" and therefore incorporated a Chinese roof design due to the station's proximity to the Chinese Garden.[25] The design is noted to be similar to the nearby Chinese Garden station, in which its roof is held by "chili-green and hongbao-red" decorative beams.[10]
