The last train from Tanjong Pagar
By Jerome Lim, 14 May 2011.
On the 30th of June, we will see the last day of operation at the grand old station at Tanjong Pagar. The station, grand not in terms of scale, but in the magnificent style in which it was built, has served Singapore as the southern terminal station for close to eight decades, having been completed in 1932 to provide a city fast growing in economic importance with a station befitting of its status, and being part of a deviation of the railway which had prior to that, run through the Bukit Timah corridor before terminating at Tank Road. With the return of the railway land which has been held on a lease by the successors of the Malayan Railway, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) and the shift of the southern terminal on the 1st of July, the age of rail travel across Singapore, which has lasted a little over a century, would draw to a close.
Operations at the grand building which has served as the southern terminal of the Malayan Railway since 1932 will cease on 1st July 2011.
In what form the station, which has recently received status as a National Monument, will be conserved following the handover we do not know, but whatever does happen, it would only serve as a reminder of the once working station which had for many years been an oasis of the laid back old world feeling that is missing from the modern Singapore that we have gotten used to. Gone will be the whistles and the drone of the diesel engines, the coming and going of passengers, the popular food outlets and what has become an institution at the railway station, the Habib Book Store and Money Changer. Gone will also be the opportunity to soak up the feel of the mood around the station, and lazily sip away at a cup of tea seated at the station end of the arrival platform. Read more
The Green Corridor: Wildlife, Alive and Dead, along the Tracks
By Daphne, 25 Apr 2011.
Warning: The following post includes gruesome photos of dead animals, which may cause discomfort to some readers.
Long tail macaques. Monitor Lizards. The rare pangolin. The common changeable lizard. Various species of snakes.
Long tail macaques are a common sight at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, of which the railway tracks pass near to the entrance of.
These are but a few animals that can be found along the section of the KTM railway tracks that run from the Bukit Timah Railway Station up till the road next to the soon-to-be-converted-into-a-condomium Ten Mile Junction.
Unfortunately, some of these animals may have fallen victim to “road-killâ€, or rather “track-kill†by passing trains. Read more
Jurong Line: Wildlife and Old Times in the Forest
By Daphne, 11 Apr 2011.
The Jurong Line leading from Sunset Way to King Albert Park, compared to the walk from Teban Gardens to the Faber Hills Estate, is a relatively easy trek as the terrain is flat for most part of it, and the vegetation though dense at certain areas, is easy to navigate. There are occasional fallen trees and branches that one has to be careful of, and extremely muddy areas that one has to cross.
Other than that, however, the walk is an enjoyable one, and also an opportunity to revel in the beauty of the forest and its inhabitants, an experience most people living in Singapore will rarely get exposure to. Most importantly, this section of the Jurong Line reveals little parts of the railway track that have fallen to abandonment – the old signal lights and electrical boxes, items that once controlled the very trains that passed through the area, but now left decrepit, rotting, and useless. Read more
The Green Corridor Forum [14 May]
Saturday, 14 May, 2.00pm – 4.00pm, level 16, POD, National Library
The ‘Green Corridor’ forum is a public discussion on the idea of converting the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway track literally into a “green corridorâ€, free of urban re-development plans once the land parcel is handed over to Singapore on 1 July 2011. This includes reasons why Singapore should protect the natural biodiversity already existing along the railway tracks as well as the community benefits that it brings.
The discussion is led by the Nature Society of Singapore and is joined by established local writers including Madeleine Lee, Suchen Christine Lim & South African writer, Melissa de Villiers.
Participants of ‘Bear Fruit: Railway Memories’ will also be presenting their works based on their memories of the Malayan railway.
About the Speakers
Dr Ho Hua Chew is currently the Chairman of the Conservation Committee in the Nature Society of Singapore. He co-ordinates conservation activities of the Society, such as the formulation of conservation proposals, feedback to government land-use & development plans, biodiversity surveys, etc. He has been doing conservation work for the Nature Society for more than a decade, in the course of which he was involved in the formulation of the conservation plan for Sungei Buloh, the Master Plan for the Conservation of Nature in Singapore, the Society’s EIA pertaining to the government’s golf course at Lower Pierce, etc.
His main field of expertise is bird life and biodiversity conservation, for which he has obtained a great deal of field experience in Singapore and Malaysia, and formal training from Imperial College and the University of East Anglia. He also lectures part-time on Environmental Ethics as well as on Biodiversity Conservation at tertiary institutions.
Tham Wai Hon’s interest in the Green Corridor sprang from his final year thesis at NUS Architecture School in 2006-it questioned the future of Malayan Railway Land. Wai Hon has worked in the fields of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and is currently working on the National ArtGallery, Singapore at studio Milou Singapore.
Neu Wa O’Neill has previously worked on issues of biodiversity and connectivity with the Wildlands Project in Montana and Colorado in the U.S.A., mapping areas of roadless wilderness and habitat for endangered species. Neu-Wa has a BA in Urban Planning from the University of Hawaii and a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Toronto, and currently works as an architecture associate in Singapore.
This forum is open to the public.
Registration is required at the NLB website.
Source: National Library Board
Bear Fruit: Railway Memories [14 May]
Saturday, 14 May, 7.30am – 2.00pm, level 1 reception counter, National Library
Start & end point: National Library (Includes transport & lunch)
The colonial influenced architecture of the Tanjong Pagar railway station stands awkwardly majestic amongst the skyscrapers of a business district and residential area. It runs its own series of offerings including an eating place that lends its weight to blue collared workers in that area during the lunch time crunch & becomes a night hangout place for young urbanites and families dreaming of temporarily escaping Singapore’s hectic city life. Come 1st July, these are all but memories when the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) Tanjong Pagar railway station ceases its operations.
Do you remember your first train ride or have personal memories of this railway station?
Does reflecting on any of your train ride journeys or walking along the railway tracks bring back significant memories?
If you can identify with this topic, have memories to share and would like to relive your old memories with us, we invite you to join us for a nostalgic walk down the railway track with our invited guests from the Nature Society of Singapore.
Relive your memories and hone your writing skills with local writer, Puga, to craft a personalised creative writing works of your experiences through our memory writing workshop and walk home with your very own memorabilia of this trip!
Participants will also be required to showcase and present their works at the forum.
This event involves a walking trail & memory writing workshop and is limited to 30 registered participants.
Interested applicants can e-mail to Nurulhuda_SUBAHAN@nlb.gov.sg with subject header: BF Railway Memories including the following details:
1. Full name
2. Contacts: E-mail address & mobile number
3. Share with us your memorable experience at the train station or of your train ride in not more than 100 words.
Source: National Library Board
Jurong Line: Digging Up A Bit of My Childhood
By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.
It’s 5pm in the evening and I’m standing by the window watching the sky turn an incandescent red. It’s my favourite time of the day to simply soak in the beautiful sights of the sun as it sets over the horizon.
From a distance, I hear a whirr that gets louder and louder as it approaches – it is the cargo train that passes by behind my house twice a day, every day. There is something most therapeutic about watching the train as it whizzes by, just like on any other day.
This was about 20 years ago.
Section of Railway track the author is referring to | Photo credit: Reclaimland.sg
Sometime in the 1990s, the actual date of which I’m not very clear of, the trains stopped running. The train tracks were left abandoned, unused, forgotten by most people, save for the ones who have once seen and heard those trains chugging down the tracks. And now, in 2011, trees have grown directly on the train tracks, up to 3 metres high, obscuring most parts of the metal rails that still line the grassland. These train tracks, lie there, forever only part of a memory; my memory. Read more
All Aboard: Riding the Train from Tanjong Pagar Rail Station to Johor Bahru
By Jeffrey and Flora, 18 Apr 2011.
Not only are they a dying form of transportation, trains and railway stations are also time machines, taking passengers back to a simpler, slower time. As I set foot inside Tanjong Pagar Rail Station a few days ago, I forgot about the glass and steel buildings in the CBD, the crowded malls and congested streets of Singapore. Train service out of this station will end on July 1, 2011, so I decided to take a train ride to Johor Bahru before it would be too late.
After July 1, the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) will no longer run trains out of Tanjong Pagar Rail Station to Malaysia. Passengers seeking to ride the rails from Singapore to Johor Bahru and beyond will have to begin their journey at Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP). Tanjong Pagar Rail Station, as well as Bukit Timah Rail Station, have been gazetted and will be conserved. The land where the train tracks now lay seems to be fair game and will probably be developed at warp speed, as land is scarce on this little island. Read more
Jurong Line: Is this Goodbye?
By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.
It was close to 20 years ago when the last train went down the tracks of the Jurong Line of the KTM Malayan Railway in Singapore. These tracks, which run from the Jurong Industrial park to Bukit Timah, has since been dismantled in part, but mostly left abandoned.
In May 2010, news that Tanjong Pagar Train Station, the only remaining train station part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network that still functions in Singapore, was going to move north to Woodlands broke out. The KTM Malayan Railway has for years brought people and goods from Malaysia to Singapore and vice versa. Since then, there has been speculation as to what would happen to these railway tracks – both the line that runs from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands, and the Jurong Line.
I took a walk down the Jurong Line, two Sundays ago, and to my dismay, work on removing these tracks had already started.
I had began my walk from Penjuru Road, near the Teban Gardens estate in Jurong, and was wondering why I could not spot any semblance of the tracks – I was even starting to think that I was not going down the right path. Read more
Jurong Line: A Photo Guide
By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.
Want to walk the Jurong Line, the abandoned railway that is part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network and not quite sure how to? Here’s a photo guide that will show you how:
View KTM Malayan Railway Lines in Singapore in a larger map
From Penjuru Road to the Tunnel, along the Teban Gardens Estate
Entering the path from Penjuru Road, you will likely to be greeted by a dirt path. The dirt path that you see here is caused by some machinery that has already started digging up the tracks around this area. A stream, or perhaps you might refer to it as a drain, runs along the side of this path. On the opposite side of this stream lie some kampung (villages). Read more
Jurong Line: Kampung Life Along The Tracks
May 4, 2011 by admin
Filed under Heritage, Recreation, Stories
By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.
Over the years, several enclaves developed by the side of the Jurong Line, part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network. These enclaves, termed as kampung (“village†in the Malay language) for the way it resembles – rural, simple, just like a village would look -, consist of small plantations, temples and sometimes even makeshift houses.
It seems, however, as if no one actually live in these kampung, but are instead “owned†and maintained by the residents who live in the neighbouring blocks.
In perpetually developing Singapore, it is inevitable that old things and places will give way to the new. Yet, I’m fairly certain that these kampung were very likely only “built†after the train tracks were abandoned, meaning that they are each less than 20 years old. In light of the fact that most kampung in Singapore were eradicated some 40 odd years ago, these little bits of village life almost appear like an anachronism, inconsistent with today’s life in Singapore. Read more
