Downtown Line Stage 1 Open house 2013

On the 7th December 2013, Singapore's newest fifth train line, Downtown Line 1 hosted the Open house to the members of the public before the official commerce on 22nd December 2013. The new Downtown Line managed by SBS Transit.

For the first time, the Downtown Line trains will carry the Land Transport Authority (LTA) logo as the trains owned by the regulator, LTA.

Downtown line 1 consists of 6 new stations. The 6 new stations are Bugis (Connecting to East-West Line), Promenade (Connecting to Circle Line), Bayfront (Connecting to Circle Line Extension), Downtown, Telok Ayer and Chinatown (Connecting to North-East Line).

I headed down to Downtown Line 1 Bugis station for the open house. Within the far distance, you could able to spot the Rail Transport Logo. Their facade wording are big and clearer signage compared to the existing train station.

There are live performance line-up especially for the members of the public to join in the fun and celebrate the new downtown line.

If you could noticed, Downtown line used the different ticketing gate which is similar like the Korea railway.

When you step into the train platform, you will see many big and clearer signage that indicated your direction especially when you are in the interchange station. It also shown the next station that you are heading to in case you went to the wrong platform.

It also indicated 4 official languages, English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil language for the emergency signage.

When you stepped into the downtown line train, you will the seat are more wider. If you intend to sleep at the RESERVED seating, you have to think twice as the seat are more colourful and the font are huge enough to embarrass yourself if you did not give up your seat!

The train also equips  with the station indicator. This station indicator are slightly better compared to the existing East-West and North-South Line as it indicated which station direction you will be heading to.

This train also equips with LCD TV screen. Most likely for advertise use purposes in the future? If you have any idea, you are welcome to share with the viewers!

The con part for this downtown line will be the LCD screen in the middle of the train. As it blocked by the handle pole. Perhaps the authority could lower down LCD screen so that it could be more visible to the commuters.

To Celebrate Downtown Line 1 opening, commuter can travel for free all-day from 22 December 2013 to 1 January 2014.

For more information on the free ride on Downtown Line 1, you can logon here.

Mediacorp Celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year is the 50th years of Golden Jubilee for MEDIA CORPORATION OF SINGAPORE PTE LTD (MEDIACORP).

To celebrate Mediacorp 50th years of television, National Heritage Board and Mediacorp partnership together to host exhibition on the history and the development of Singapore's Television and media industry at National Museum of Singapore (NSM).

During the weekends, Mediacorp various celebrity and NSM staff will host tour group for registered guests. They will bring around the registered guests in differences era of the television history background and the transformation of the media/entertainment industry.

We are greeted by Mediacorp Channel 8 actress, Cynthia Koh 许美珍. She will be our tour leader for today! When we stepped into the exhibition hall, Cynthia and the NSM asked us if everyone could remembered what was the show behind them and this show are from which era?

Most people remembered this drama are known as 雾锁南洋 The Awakening. This is the first drama that Singapore ever produced and also with dubbed in English for the first time. Many people would remembered 何阿水 He Ah Shui (黃文永 Huang Wen Yong) and 阿梅 Ah Mei (向雲 Xiang Yun).

After that, we went to other era which was back to the 1960's-1970's where the Television just launched and the government purchased television and put it in the community centre where many people would get together and watch the show in the small Television.

Then we headed over to sitcom exhibit where we get to see the Singapore iconic characters like Phua Chu Kang and Liang Popo.

After which, Cynthia told us how the drama was filmed and what was the differences from the older days till the modern world of filming.

She also shared her story on filming and they need to rehearse their role in the past before it would filmed as the film are expensive and once NG, they need to use a new roll of film to get it right.

You would never imagine that how many rolls of film will be wasted if the celebrities had to NG many times? Compared to modern technology, if you NG, you can able to wipe it away and reuse the film.

The NSM hosted told us how Singapore government used the television to broadcast the important messages island wide. For instant, On August 9, 1965, The then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew announced that the Singapore will Separated from Malaysia and became Independence country.

Now we headed over to magazine and the NSM told us how the magazine also changed when time goes by. The price for the magazined used to cost 50C till SGD$2.

It getting more interesting and the topics are more wide compared in the past. In the modern world, the reader can pay and download the recent issue to their tablet and they can read anywhere.

After that we headed over to the 90's drama exhibit. The NSM told us that many people would remembered this drama. 姑姑 and 杨过. This Chinese drama known as 神鵰俠侶 had sold the broadcast copyright to many countries.

Finally, it came to the end of the tour with celebrity. Members of the public came over to take Cynthia autograph and took photos with her.

Many people might thought that celebrity are proud and hard to get along with. But, Cynthia are friendly, polite and easy going person.

At the NSM, there are many interesting events line-up for you to celebrate Mediacorp 50th Anniversary.

To find out more on Mediacorp 50th Anniversary events, you may click here for more information.

Happy 50th years of Golden Jubilee to Mediacorp!