count yourselves lucky to have entire lines of mrt up and running in a couple of years. how long did the northeast and circle lines take to get from final design to operation? how long did the east-west and north-south lines take? well, over here in the bay area, the bay area rapid transit (bart) just announced that they will start construction of the berryessa extension in mid-2012. project started in 2009 and planned passenger service to the berryessa extension from fremont (current end of line) is envisioned for 2018. 2018!!! one fucking station and a dozen miles of track from fremont to berryessa will take an entire decade less one year to complete. compare that to the circle line. i was in sg in 2009 and got wind of the circle line, when construction started. i posted the complete mrt plan with circle line in map in this forum when i returned to the bay area 2009. 2 years later, i stepped onto changi and found out the circle line was already completed and in operation. wtf?! here's the latest and most complete berryessa extension project timeline...
dec 2009 entered federal new starts program
dec 2010 received federal environmental clearance
feb 2011 federal funding recommendation
apr 2011 entered final design
dec 2011 design build contract awarded to skanska-shimmick-herzog jv
mar 2012 secure federal funding
jul 2012 construction begins
jul 2016 construction ends
aug 2016 system testing begins
dec 2018 system testing ends
2018??? passenger service may start
add 2 years to delays when it comes to bay area construction projects on a major scale. and remember this is only one fucking station at berryessa. by the time bart gets to the final destination in san jose, you and i can convalesce at the new hot spot viet cafe on hostetter and capitol. by then, the bikini chicks will be very old hens. *cluck cluck cluck*
....btw, how many stations does the circle line stop at?