When the North East line opened, it was one of the 2 completed MRT stations in the entire system that was non-operational, the other being Woodleigh which opened on 20 June 2011. Buangkok was originally planned to be opened with 15 other stations on the North East line. However, the operator SBS Transit decided not to open the station as the area around the station was relatively undeveloped and it was claimed that the number of passengers would be too low to cover operating costs.