History
Adjacent to the Singapore Polytechnic on one side, and undeveloped land on the other, the building of the station was met with reservations by some members of the public over the small area it serviced. There were criticisms over the spending of "taxpayers' money" chiefly for use only by students of one educational institution. The Land Transport Authority, the government department in charge of public transport operations, proceeded with the construction anyway, using the justification that the service area extends to public housing flats on either end of the polytechnic, and that the undeveloped land opposite is slated for extensive development, largely residential in nature. The service area can also be thought to extend to the town of Dover.
There were test runs from 13 to 17 October 2001 when the trains stopped at this station but did not open their doors. It is the first station to be built over an operating rail line with no disruptions to train services, with the exception that trains drove by the site at a reduced speed during the construction phase. It is also the first elevated station in Singapore with two side platforms on either side of the tracks, as opposed to having an island platform in all other elevated MRT stations. Dover is currently the only elevated MRT Station to have two opposing side platforms; however, if stations between Yew Tee and Kranji/Sembawang and Yishun are built on the North South Line, they will also have two opposing side platforms because the tracks passing by these proposed stations have been built together.
As the second elevated station built in the late 1990s and the early 2000s (the other being Expo), it has a rather distinctive architectural design. like most projects in this period, it has an extensive use of glass and steel as well as the use of suspension.
A shuttle bus is provided from this station to National University Hospital (NUH), previously from Buona Vista. However, services ceased with effect from 1 November 2011 due to the opening of Kent Ridge on the Circle Line, which is at the doorstep of NUH.
Half Height Platform Screen Doors (HHPSD) were installed in this station and they became operational on 5 August 2011.
Read more about this topic: Dover MRT Station
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