Is Marina South MRT Open? Getting From Marina Gardens Crescent to the Train, Before and After the Station Opens

Short answer: no. Marina South MRT sits on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) between Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay, but the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has not opened it and has not given a date. LTA's line page says Marina South station will open "in tandem with the completion of developments" in the area, with the opening date "to be advised". For anyone weighing a future home on the Marina Gardens Crescent parcel, that makes rail access a before-and-after question. This article covers the train access that exists now, what changes when the station opens, and how Marina South's car-lite rules affect parking and driving.

What LTA's records say about the three stations

TEL Stage 3 opened on 13 November 2022. LTA's factsheet for that stage lists 11 stations opening for passenger service. Marina South was not one of them, although it sits on the same stretch of line. LTA's line page lists 13 stations for Stage 3 and marks Marina South, along with Mount Pleasant, as a station that will open later.

Until Marina South station opens, a resident's nearest working stops are its two neighbours: Gardens by the Bay, and Marina Bay, which is an interchange. We do not publish walking times from the Crescent parcel to either station. No building layout or entrance position exists yet, so any walking time given today would be a guess.

Why the station and the Crescent site are waiting on the same thing

LTA links the station's opening to development in the area around it. Marina Gardens Crescent is one of the sites that has not been developed yet. URA closed its tender on 18 January 2024 and did not award the site, because the only bid was assessed as too low. The parcel was then moved to the Reserve List. The current URA record still lists it as a site available for application, with no appointed developer. The full tender history is covered in our explainer on the rejected tender.

The URA record gives the site a project completion period of 72 months. That period runs from the date a tender is accepted to the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) for the whole development. No tender has been accepted, so that period has not started. We therefore do not say when the station might open or when any home on this parcel might be completed. The station and the parcel both depend on the precinct being built, and neither has a fixed date.

Station-by-station reach, counted from Marina South

Once Marina South station opens, the table below shows how far a single TEL ride goes. We count stops in LTA's station order. We do not give journey times in minutes because LTA's line page does not list them for these trips.

Heading the other way, Gardens by the Bay is one stop away. LTA lists Founders' Memorial station next and says it will open together with the Founders' Memorial. Beyond it, the other seven Stage 4 stations opened on 23 June 2024. They run east through Tanjong Rhu, Katong Park, Tanjong Katong, Marine Parade, Marine Terrace and Siglap to Bayshore. Within four stops of Marina South there are two interchanges, Marina Bay and Outram Park. Together they connect to four other lines: the North-South, Circle, East-West and North-East Lines. The Downtown Line connects further up, at Stevens.

The planned underground link between the two stations

URA's Marina South Urban Design Guide (version 2.0, February 2023) plans an underground pedestrian link about 800 metres long between Gardens by the Bay MRT and Marina South MRT. It will run beneath the precinct's Pedestrian Mall and give covered access between the new developments and both stations. Above ground, the guide plans covered walkways on both sides of the 30-metre-wide mall.

The guide also puts requirements on developers. Developments facing the Pedestrian Mall must provide access down to the underground link at key junctions, with a pair of lifts and a pair of escalators, and must put active uses, such as shops, along key stretches of the link. Whether a future Marina Gardens Crescent scheme will have its own entrance to this network depends on the site's tender conditions. We have not reviewed those conditions, so this is unconfirmed. Once a developer publishes a site plan, one of the first things to check is where the nearest entrance to the station network is.

Car-lite: what it means for parking and driving

The same guide calls Marina South a gazetted car-lite precinct, with "fewer car parks, reduced road network, wider sidewalks, a pedestrianised street, and direct connections to the MRT network". Three of its rules matter most to a buyer who owns a car:

• Fewer parking spaces. Developers must provide less car parking, in line with LTA's requirements. The number of spaces for any Crescent scheme is TBA.
• One vehicle entrance per development. Each development must have a single, combined vehicle access point, so pedestrians and cyclists cross fewer driveways.
• EV charging. Developers must provide electric-vehicle charging infrastructure as required by the relevant government agencies.

The guide also plans cycling paths on both sides of the streets. For a household that uses a car every day, the key figures will be the number of parking spaces per unit and whether season parking is guaranteed. Neither is published yet. The precinct is designed around walking, cycling and rail. A buyer who depends on a car should expect less parking than the standard provision elsewhere.

Questions to ask when a developer is appointed

1. Which building entrance is closest to Marina South station, and what is the walking route to Gardens by the Bay station while Marina South is still closed?
2. Does the development have its own lifts and escalators down to the underground pedestrian link, or do residents use a public entrance?
3. How many car park spaces are there per residential unit, and how many have EV chargers?
4. How much bicycle parking is provided, and where is it?

These answers will only come with the developer's site plan and sales materials. When they are released, we will add them to the floor plans and price pages, not publish them early. To be told when a scheme, site plan or showflat is announced for this parcel, register on the showflat page. For the wider neighbourhood, see our Marina South district guide and the location page.