Brisk ticket sales before final train leaves KTM station

July 2, 2011 by  
Filed under News

By Hoe Yeen Nie, TODAY, 23 Jun 2011.

As the day of the last KTM train pulling out of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station draws near, sales of tickets for Malaysia-bound trains departing from the station have been brisk.

At the station yesterday, all the seats for the 8am and 1pm trains were sold out and tickets for today were reportedly gone within half an hour.

Said Mr Teo Juay Tee, who was among the lucky ones to secure a ticket: “I came four times to try to get one and, on the fourth try, I got lucky. I’m already 27-years- old and I’ve never taken the train before, that’s why I’m here to try it out.”

Read more

Source: TODAY

Don’t miss the last train!

May 26, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Stories, Transport

By Jerome Lim, 18 May 2011.

The last day of June this year will bring to a close a long chapter in our history, one that will break a link we have had with the Malayan Railway, now operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), that went back some 108 years. The railway’s beginings can be traced back to the Singapore-Kranji Railway which started service in 1903 providing a link from the north down to the terminal station in Tank Road. A ferry service was introduced which provided rail passengers with a link to the Johor Railway across the Straits of Johor which was replaced by the rail link across the Causeway when that was built. It was a railway deviation in 1932 that diverted the railway to its current terminal at Tanjong Pagar, cutting a path through from Bukit Timah deviating from its original route over towards Ulu Pandan, Buona Vista, Tanglin Halt, towards the new grand terminal built to provide Singapore with a station that was befitting of its economic importance. Beside the grand old station, it was this deviation that possibly provided us with the many structures that give the areas through which the railway passes through a unique flavour as well as helping preserving parts of old Singapore: the two distinctive black truss bridges across Bukit Timah Road; the girder bridges across at the road entrance to Bukit Timah Hill and at the entrance to Hillview Avenue; the quaint old station at Bukit Timah and the wonderful green corridor that has been maintained along much of the railway land.


The last train will pass reach Woodlands Checkpoint at approximately 23:00 on 30th June 2011 and that will end 108 years of trains of the Malayan Railway chugging through Singapore. Read more

A walk on the wild side

May 25, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Nature, Recreation, Stories, Transport

By Jerome Lim, 15 May 2011.

I took a walk into a world where there might not have been one, where gold, crimson and blue tinged fairies dance a flight of joy, a joy that’s echoed in the singing of songs of joy that eludes ears made weary by the cacophony of the grey world we have found ourselves in. It is a world that seeks to be found in the midst of the cold grey world we find around us, a world that we may soon lose with the lost of the reasons for its being. The world I speak of is none other than the Green Corridor that has existed solely because of the railway which has allowed a green and seemingly distant world to exist next to the concrete world that we have created in our island.


A world that seeks to be discovered – but how much longer will it be there for us? Read more

The last train from Tanjong Pagar

May 17, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Stories, Transport

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

Bear Fruit: Railway Memories [14 May]

May 9, 2011 by  
Filed under Events

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

Different routes for two railway stations?

April 9, 2011 by  
Filed under News

By S Ramesh and Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Apr 09, 2011.

One could become the centrepiece of the glitzy redevelopment of the Tanjong Pagar area, while the other, an endearing local landmark in Bukit Timah, will stand as a piece of Singapore’s transport history.

The Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) is gazetting the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (TPRS) as a national monument, while the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is gazetting the Bukit Timah Railway Station (BTRS) as a conserved building.

This, in view of “their deep historical significance, and to protect physical reminders of our rich heritage”, according to a joint statement from the PMB and URA released on Friday.

Read more

Source: Today Online

Historic railway stations to be kept for future generations

April 8, 2011 by  
Filed under News

In view of their deep historical significance and to protect physical reminders of our rich heritage, the Singapore government will be keeping both the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Bukit Timah Railway Station. The Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) is gazetting the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as a National Monument, while the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is gazetting the Bukit Timah Railway Station as a conserved building.

At their Retreat on 24 May 2010, the Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced in their Joint Statement that the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) station would be relocated from Tanjong Pagar to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) by 1 July 2011. Both Leaders also agreed that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Passenger Terminal building would be conserved given its historical significance and the old Bukit Timah Railway Station building at Blackmore Drive could also be conserved.

With the relocation of KTMB station from Tanjong Pagar to WTCP by 1 July 2011, both the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Bukit Timah Railway Station will then cease to operate as KTMB railway facilities. Read more

A colourful journey in black and white

April 6, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Stories, Transport

By Jerome Lim, 14 March 2011.

I have always been one for train rides, taking one every opportunity I get whenever I find myself with time to spare, be it from the grand stations of the great European cities, or from stations closer to home, with a particular liking for the old style railways that I sometimes stumble upon. In Singapore, the opportunity had presented itself throughout my life I guess, but somehow, I never embarked on a journey from the grand old station at Tanjong Pagar until I was well into my adulthood, making many trips in the 1990s. Trains always present themselves as a convenient means to get around from one city to another, taking one from the centre of the city right into the heart of another. So it is with the Malayan Railway as well – for another few months at least when Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB or KTM) moves the terminal station from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands. With that, we will bid goodbye to the old railway lines which has served Singapore since the turn of the last century, as well as an old railway station in the heart of the city.

The last opportunity to take a train from an old style station in the heart of Singapore, on a line that has served Singapore since 1932 (parts of it date back to the turn of the last century), through Singapore’s countryside, before train services terminate at Woodlands by the time the 1st of July arrives.

As mentioned in my previous post, I took another ride recently, just for the sake of reliving my previous journeys before the chance to do so evaporates once KTM moves operations to Woodlands. It will be a shame not to have had that experience, one that involves arriving or departing from the platforms which had served as the southern terminal to the Malayan Railway for eight decades from its days as the FMSR. Once the move is made, Singapore would lose not just another historical link it has had with the Malay States in the Malayan Peninsula, but also a proper train station to take a romantic journey on a train from. What will also go are the well worn tracks that served us so well, laid over a corridor of land that probably due to the railway, has remained untouched and relatively green; as well as the many markers left behind by the railway including the railway bridges, signal posts, railway buildings and control huts, distance markers and the last remaining level crossings in Singapore. Read more

There I go again … another journey through Tanjong Pagar

April 6, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Stories, Transport

By Jerome Lim, 11 March 2011.

I guess I have not had enough of it, despite probably having tens of, if not a couple of hundred journeys out of Tanjong Pagar. I did it once again, since proclaiming that that journey taken with some friends at the end of last year would possibly have been my last. Having had a mixed bag of experiences on the many journeys through the arches of the grand old station, the ones that probably I remember most of are the regular delays that one comes to expect on the far from reliable train service that KTMB operates. Part of the reason for this, some of the archaic infrastructure and practices still in use on the old railway, does perhaps lend itself to an experience that you would certainly not get on the efficient railways that criss-cross much of the European continent – one that seems out of place in the ultra modern and efficient world we have grown accustomed to in Singapore.

I will certainly miss taking train journeys out of Tanjong Pagar … something that will perhaps motivate me to take a few more over the next few months before the station closes.

Stepping into the station itself would somehow take you back in time, the atmosphere being one which seems more at home in the Singapore of the 1960s and 1970s. The large airy concourse that greets the visitor is adorned with mosaic murals that speak of a style that was prevalent of a time we have left behind and depict scenes from the Malayan peninsula that would have been more common in that era. Over the years that I had have an awareness of the layout of the concourse, nothing much has changed except perhaps that the occupants of some of the spaces, and an invasion of a Tourism Malaysia hut in the middle of it. It is in one of the spaces along the concourse that some nice food can be found and to perhaps add a old world flavour to the station, you would find food vendors that would be more comfortable conversing in Bahasa Melayu, once a common language on the streets. Read more

Journeys through Tanjong Pagar: First Impressions …

April 6, 2011 by  
Filed under Heritage, Stories, Transport

By Jerome Lim, 21 Sep 2010.

I had as a child, been fascinated by the old railway station at Tanjong Pagar. The grand old station building, which has provided many of us with a passage to the north, had been one that always attracted my attention whenever I passed it in the backseat of my father’s car. The very first impression I have of the station is one that has been shaped by the food stalls that sprouted up in the open air car park in front of the station every evening, stalls that seemed to glow in the shadows cast by the grey façade of the railway station.

The passage to the north. Read more

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