It was in the final days of the Malayan Railway’s operations through Singapore just over a year and a half ago that the former Bukit Timah Railway Station drew crowds it that had not previously seen before. The station, built in 1932 as part of the Railway Deviation which took the railway towards a new terminal close to the docks at Tanjong Pagar, was one that was long forgotten. Once where prized racehorses bound for the nearby Turf Club were offloaded, the station’s role had over time diminished. Its sole purpose had in the years leading up to its final moments been reduced to that of a point at which authority for the tracks north of the station to Woodlands and south of it to Tanjong Pagar was exchanged through a key token system. The practice was an archaic signalling practice that had been made necessary by the single track system on which the outbound and inbound trains shared. It had in its final days been the last point along the Malayan Railway at which the practice was still in use and added to the impression one always had of time leaving the station and its surroundings behind. It was for that sense of the old world, a world which if not for the railway might not have existed any more, for which it had, in its calmer days, been a place where one could find an escape from the concrete world which in recent years was never far away. It was a world in which the sanity which often eludes the citizens of the concrete world could be rediscovered. It is a world, despite the green mesh fencing now reminding us of its place in the concrete world, which still offers that escape, albeit one which will no longer come with those little reminders of a time we otherwise might have long forgotten.
It was around the time of Sunday’s sunrise under the red lightening sky that a long train snaked its way out of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, a little more than a year and a half after the last train left the station. Sunday’s train wasn’t one that was pulled along by a locomotive of course – most of the railway tracks along the rail corridor have since been removed, but a human train of runners pulled along by a Kenyan who led from start to finish in what is the inaugural Green Corridor Run which is thought to have attracted as many as 6,000 runners. The race took runners along the rail corridor on a 10.5 km route from Tanjong Pagar to the former Bukit Railway Station – a distance which the trains would cover in about fifteen minutes. The race winner, Samson Tenai, 32, need just a little more than double that – he covered the distance in a time of 34 minutes 11 seconds.
7.09 am : Colours of sunrise.
7.14 am : A plane is seen over the container cranes against the sunrise coloured sky.
The entire rail corridor which stretches some 26 km from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands has been the subject of much interest since the agreement to handover the land on which the Malaysian Government owned railway, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), operated a railway line, was announced in May 2010.
7.20 am : The first runners are seen already building up a lead over the chasing pack. Seen in the lead is Kenyan Samson Tenai, the eventual winner of the race who completed the 10.5 km course in about 34 minutes.
Relatively untouched by urban development for some 79 years of the rail’s operation through much of it, the corridor features large tracts of greenery. Interest groups and individuals have called for the preservation of the corridor for its heritage and potential for community use such as a running course, and as a unbroken bicycle path that takes one from the north of the island to an area close to the city with possible links to the park connector network. The Minister for National Development, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, announced plans to preserve the rail corridor in July 2011. Since then, a Rail Corridor Partnership has been formed with stakeholders from both Government Agencies, interest groups and members of the public involved. Plans are currently being formulated for future use of the rail corridor.
7.20 am : The rush of runners. Some 6000 runners are thought to have participated in the run.
7.22 am : The chasing pack makes it way past the former signal hut at Tanjong Pagar.
More information on the former Railway and the Rail Corridor:
I recently had a look in and around the former Bukit Timah Railway Station, lying quiet and abandoned while plans have not been made for its future use. The station, the last on the old Malayan Railway (known in more recent times as Keretapi Tanah Melayu or KTM), where the old key token exchange system was employed, was vacated on 1 July 2011 when the southern terminal of the railway was moved to Woodlands, and is now a conserved building.
A bridge that’s now too far.
A world that almost seems forgotten.
The station is one that was built as part of the 1932 railway deviation. The deviation raised the line (hence the four bridges south of Bukit Panjang – one of which, a grider bridge over Hillview Road, has since been removed), as well as turned it towards Holland Road and the docks at Tanjong Pagar. Bukit Timah Railway Station in more recent times prior to its closure operated almost forgotten, seen mainly by passengers on passing trains, operated only in a signalling role. It was only as the closure of the railway line through Singapore loomed that more took notice of the station and the archaic practice of exchanging key tokens.
A window into the forgotten world.
The ghost of station masters past?
Together with the nearby truss bridge, one of two longer span railway bridges over the Bukit Timah area, which in some respects gives the area some of its character, the station lies today somewhat forgotten. The frenzy that accompanied the last days of the railway and the days that followed prior to the removal of the tracks has since died down – the post track removal turfing work intended to level the terrain and prevent collection of rain water has probably served to do the opposite and rendered the ground too soft and mushy to have a pleasant walk on).
The tracks along much of the rail corridor has since been removed with only short sections such as this one at the truss bridge at close to Bukit Timah Railway Station left behind.
Through broken panes, the last half dozen of more than 30 levers that were once found in the signalling room of the station is seen.
While interest in the rail corridor seems to have faded with the passage of time, there may yet be motivation to pay a visit to it in the next month or so. A recent announcement (see Removal of structures along Rail Corridor dated 23 Nov 2012) made by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) points to the removal of unsound structures. These unsound structures include two of the signal huts at the former level crossings, one of which does have a memorial of sorts to the last day of railway operations and the last train. Besides the huts, some buildings that served as lodgings including the ones at Blackmore Drive, will also be demolished. Work on removal of the structures, based on the announcement, are to be completed by the end of January 2013 and this December probably offers the last opportunity to see the affected areas of the rail corridor as it might once have been.
A Brahminy Kite flies over the formaer railway station.
In a world that is changing too fast, it is often only the memories of places dear to us that we are able to cling on to, memories in which we often discover what we have left behind. As with its forerunner Old Places, Royston Tan’s seeks to discover that through the words of the man on the street, and discover in each, “an old lover’s story waiting to be untold”. The stories explore many places in which we as Singaporeans may have collective memories in, and of which in the words of the director “almost 50% will be gone by the time we premiere this”. The premiere of Old Romances and a screening of Old Places will take place over the weekend of 15/16 Dec 2012 at the National Museum. More information can be found listed below. Tickets for the screenings cost S$11 (including handling fees) or S$10 for Senior Citizens and are available at TICKETBOOTH. DVDs will be on sale on both days with autograph signing sessions arranged. Part of the ticket proceeds will be donated to the charity Action for Aids.
Film Schedule
15 December 2012, Saturday
2.30pm: Old Romances followed by Q&A
16 December 2012, Sunday
2.30pm: Old Places followed by Q&A
4.30pm: Old Romances followed by Q&A
Ticketing Information
S$11 per ticket (includes handling fees)
S$10 per ticket (Senior Citizen concession, includes handling fees)
Tickets can be purchased at TICKETBOOTH outlets or on the TICKETBOOTH website www.ticketbooth.com.sg
Venue
National Museum of Singapore, Gallery Theatre, Basement
About Old Romances《老情人》
“Old places are like old lovers to me, you never forget them.” – Royston Tan
Executive Producer: Royston Tan
Directors: Royston Tan, Eva Tang and Victric Thng
67 min / Documentary
Synopsis
There is romance in every corner we turn. In this sequel to the documentary, Old Places, Old Romances takes us on a journey to experience Singapore through the collective voices of ordinary Singaporeans.
Through their voices, we hear personal stories from members of the public who shared their anecdotes on radio. Everyday spaces come alive with these special memories, which are bonded forever with these places.
Old Romances is a journal of love letters to places that we grew up with.
Director’s Statement
“What triggered me to do Old Romances was the great public response for wanting a sequel to Old Places. I believe that in every old place, there is always an old lover’s story waiting to be untold. How great is it to have this story told by ordinary Singaporeans from all walks of life. I received an email recently from a lady who was taking the MRT and as she looked out of the train at everything that seemed so familiar, they were really places that were depleting by the minute. It’s almost like we Singaporeans are suffering from the dementia of our society due to our rapid urban development. With this, I feel the need to archive all the stories and old places of which almost 50% will be gone by the time we premiere this.”
Remembering forgotten places in Singapore through the eyes of ordinary people
Executive Producer: Royston Tan
Directors: Royston Tan, Eva Tang and Victric Thng
77 min / Documentary
“I want to archive these places before they are lost forever.” – Royston Tan
Synopsis
Old Places shows us the oft-forgotten yet almost immediately familiar areas in Singapore through the eyes of ordinary people. Prior to the production, members of the public were invited to call in to the radio to recount their significant memories of places in Singapore – places that will soon disappear or be redeveloped.
These personal stories come alive through the callers’ narration and the stunning visuals that capture the nostalgia and hidden beauty of the places. Re-discover Singapore and journey to places like a playground in Toa Payoh, a barbershop at Commonwealth Avenue, Capitol cinema, and an unassuming bakery in Whampoa.
Old Places celebrates personal stories of joy, love or loss, and weaves them into a tapestry of memories amounting to a collective and yet typical story of life in Singapore.
Old Places first screened on Okto on the eve of National Day 2010 where it recorded the highest ratings for any documentary screened that year, and received an overwhelming number of requests from the public for a repeat screening, which was subsequently arranged by Okto on 24 August.
Past screenings
Old Places was screened at the Esplanade from 13 July to 26 August 2012 in the Our Places, Our Stories exhibition.
It has also been shown once at the National Library, five times on television (even till now where they cut the film into 10-minute snippets), twice in schools for National Day Parade last year (once in SOTA and once in NTU), and had one community screening.
After the National Museum, it will next screen at a community museum in Taman Jurong in January 2013, organised by the National Heritage Board and the Singapore Art Museum.
Directors’ Bios
Royston Tan
A graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, Royston Tan’s films have screened worldwide at film festivals and received over 75 awards. He has made 4 feature length films and continues to work within the short film genre when the right idea comes along. Tan is one of the most influential filmmakers locally. In 2002, the National Arts Council honoured him with the Young Artist Award. In 2004, Time Magazine cited Tan as one of the ‘Top 20 Asian Heroes’. In 2010, Tan received the Singapore Youth Award, the highest youth accolade from the National Youth Council.
During his days as a student, Tan won the NTU All-School Students’ Photo-Videographic Competition: First prize for Music Video for Remains (1995) and the UTV International Book Prize for Adam.Eve.Steve (1997).
After graduation, Tan received the Best Short Film and Special Achievement Award for the short film Sons in 2000. In 2001, his short film Mother received the Voice Award at The Substation’s Singapore Short Film Festival. He has won two awards at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival: the Canal+ Award 2005 for Cut and the Grand Prix for Monkey Love in 2007.
Tan remains one of the few filmmakers in Singapore who straddles both the commercial film world and the international film festival circuits. His film 881 grossed over S$3 millions, making it the top grossing Asian film in Singapore in 2007. In 2009, he was invited to be part of the Jury at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Eva Tang
Born in Singapore, Eva Tang has lived and studied in Hong Kong, London and China. When she was offered a scholarship from the Singapore Film Commission, she resigned from her journalist job of 5 years and went to study film. Tang was the first Singaporean filmmaker who had her student short selected by the Venice Film Festival in 2002.
Eva is a MA (Directing) graduate of the National Film and Television School. Her student film Londres – London won the Governor Award of the Akira Kurosawa Memorial Short Film Competition. It also won Best Artistic Film in Shanghai, Jury Recommendation at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards, and was nominated for Best Short Film at Hawaii and Bangkok International Film Festivals. The National Gallery of Art (USA) also picked it up for screening. Her film, Solitary Moon was awarded the First Prize at The Great Gatsby Video Challenge, part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2010.
Eva was selected for the 2009 Berlinale Talent Campus, 2010 Torino FilmLab training and 2010 Taipei Golden Horse Film Academy led by Hou Hsiao-Hsien.
Victric Thng
Cited as “one of the new wave directors to look out for” by The Straits Times, Victric Thng’s filmmaking career started when he made a 3-minute short film, Locust (2003). The film won the Renault Samsung Prize in the Busan Asian Short Film Festival, Best Asean Short Film Silver Award at the Malaysian Video Awards and also screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Locust remains one of the festivals’ most highly requested films today. He has since made 11 other short films including more recently, The Mole (2007), which won first prize at the Panasonic-MDA Digital Film Fiesta 2007, and Twogether (2007), which screened at the 27th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2009. In 2009, he executive produced the short film series Infinity which premiered at the 22nd Singapore International Film Festival. He was commissioned by the National Arts Council in 2009 and 2010 to direct a film under the dance/film programme, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival. A Day Without Wind, which was the dance film commissioned in 2009, travelled to the Asian Hot Shots Festival 2010 in Berlin, Germany.
He has been invited to jury regionally at festivals including in Macau and in Singapore, the 7th Fly By Night Video Challenge 2009. In 2009, John Badalu in Jakarta curated a retrospective of his works.
For anyone interested in visiting Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, you will be glad to know that it will be opened for a motoring heritage exhibition this weekend (8 / 9 September 2012). Beside the vintage car display that will be put up by the Malaysia Singapore Vintage Car Register (MSVCR), there will also be a chance to take rides on vintage mini-buses and scooters as well as revisit one of the main reasons why many visited the station before its closure – food. As part of the event, there will be an exhibition along the wider theme of transportation heritage for which the National Heritage Board (NHB) which has organised this event has invited me to help put together an exhibition of photographs from the community on the railway and the station. For this, I have got a group of various people that have an interest in the railway and the station to reflect on the journeys made and the last goodbyes that were said in a small exhibition ‘First Journeys, Last Goodbyes’. The exhibition will be opened from 10 am to 5 pm on both days and there will be free shuttle buses at half hour intervals from Tanjong Pagar MRT Station through the day. For those interested in learning more about the station’s history and architecture, guided tours of the station will also be conducted on both days.
A last goodbye on 30 June 2011.
About First Journeys, Last Goodbyes
For close to five decades after Singapore’s independence, the Malaysian railway continued to operate through Singapore on a piece of Malaysia that cut a path into the heart of Singapore. It was perhaps one of the last physical reminders of the common history that the two countries shared.
The southern terminal at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station completed in 1932, was modelled after Helsinki’s Central Station to give it a grand appearance for its intended role. That role, the grand southern terminal of a pan-Asian railway and a gateway to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was one it never got to play, serving instead as a focal point of any rail journey into or out of Singapore.
The station best remembered for the high vaulted ceiling with huge panels of batik styled mosaic murals of its main hall was one that saw many visitors over the years. That, the experience of the station, as well as the many personal journeys taken through the station would have left a deep impression.
First Journeys, Last Goodbyes brings a few travellers each with a personal story to share of their journeys, journeys on railway or through the station … journeys that will take a long time to be forgotten …
Contributors to the community photo exhibition are Zinkie Aw, Francis Siew, Loke Man Kai, Tan Geng Hui and myself.
Information received on 7 Sep 2012 on the weekend public tours of the station:
The tours will be conducted by PMB’s Volunteer Guides. No sign-ups are required for the tours. Public tours will be:
• Sat, 8 Sep: 2pm, 3pm and 4pm.
• Sun, 9 Sep: 2pm and 3pm
Standing silently and somewhat forgotten is a building that, only a year ago, attracted many people’s attention in Singapore. This building, the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, a magnificent architectural achievement once described as having a “palatial appearance”, recently joined Singapore’s list of National Monuments. Completed in 1932, the station was built as a centrepiece to underline Singapore’s growing importance as an economic centre in the British Far East, serving as a gateway for the southernmost point in continental Asia to the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Located opposite the docks at Tanjong Pagar, the station was one that had been well-considered. The then Governor of Singapore, Sir Cecil Clementi, in his address at the station’s opening on 2 May 1932, had made the observation that it was “a natural junction between land-borne and sea-borne traffic” and mentioned that it was “where every facility will be afforded for interchange between railway and ocean shipping”. The promise was, however, not fulfilled – Sir Cecil could not have predicted that the railway’s importance as a means of transportation in the Malayan peninsula would diminish.
The station’s opening that day was marked by the 5.15 pm arrival, from Bukit Panjang Station, of its first train. This train carried several dignitaries, including the Governor, the Sultan of Perak and Mr J Strachan, the General Manager of the Federated Malay States Railway. Several months prior to the opening (on 2 January 1932), the station had already made its public debut – by playing host to a Manufacturers’ Exhibition – an indication perhaps of its eventual destiny.
The station’s façade with the four large triumphal figures.
My first encounters with the station took place at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s. My parents often drove past, drawn by the hawker stalls which operated in the evenings in a car-park facing the station’s entrance. It was while sitting at the tables in the car-park that I would gaze across to the station’s façade and stare at the four large, triumphal figures that flanked the portico’s arches. The figures were the work of Angelo Vannetti of the Raoul Bigazzi Studios Florence and represented the pillars of the Malayan economy. These triumphal figures are evidence of the Art Deco style chosen by its architects, Swan and MacLaren. Thought to have been inspired by Helsinki’s Central Station, it is believed the station also shares some of Washington DC’s Union Station’s design features. In fact Tanjong Pagar Station’s architectural elements reveal both western and eastern influences; the green-tiled roof structures were inspired by the roofs of Chinese Temples.
The main hall of the station. Part of the vaulted ceiling and batik-style mosaic panels can be seen.
On the rare occasions when I found myself in the main hall, the high vaulted ceiling that rises some 22 metres above the ground caught my attention, as did the six sets of mosaic panels that resemble giant batik paintings. The mosaic panels, which contain a total of 9,000 tiles, looked very much like the batik prints hanging in my home. The panels depict scenes that represent the economies of the then Federated Malay States. At that time, the station had also housed a hotel on the upper floors, around the main hall. A huge sign in the north-east corner of the hall made sure this did not go unnoticed.
It was in the 1990s that I first took a train out of the station. Seemingly in defiance of its location, a huge blue “Welcome to Malaysia” sign stood above the station’s entrance. A Points of Agreement (POA) had been signed in 1990 between the Malaysian Government and their Singapore counterparts. This was to pave the way for the eventual moving of the station from Tanjong Pagar and would involve its handover along with the land the railway ran through (whose ownership was transferred to the railway administration through a 1918 ordinance – effectively making it part of Malaysia).
Two decades of protracted negotiations followed the 1990 POA before the differences in its interpretation resulted in a renegotiation of land swap arrangements between the two governments. The moving of the station from Tanjong Pagar and the handover of land was agreed on only in May 2010.
It was perhaps at the beginning of 2011 that interest in the station and in train journeys from Tanjong Pagar started to build. The realisation that the station was soon to close drew crowds not previously seen at the station. Many turned up for a final look, to make a last departure or to have a last meal at the station, joined by a frenzy of photographers and members of both the local and overseas media, who seemed intent on recording the station’s last days.
A few former food stall operators having a last breakfast on 30 June 2011.
The final day of operations at the station, 30 June 2011, came all too soon. It was an especially poignant day for the station’s railway staff and also for the food-stall operators – some were seen having a last breakfast in the almost empty room that only days before had been filled with food-stalls and tables filled with diners. Well before the first train was to depart, a crowd had already gathered in the main hall. Many had come to witness the final moments. Some had come to start a journey that would end with a final homecoming to the station on the very last train that evening.
The crowds grew as the day passed. As night fell, many more gathered to witness the historic departure of the last train out, to be driven by the Sultan of Johor. I had come on the very last in-bound train and was prepared for the reception at the station by the scenes I had seen along the way. Huge crowds had gathered at Bukit Timah Station and at each of the five level crossings, to bid goodbye. After the train finally pulled in following a long delay at Bukit Timah, I lingered a while before stepping out onto the platform. I turned back for a final glance at the platform, realising that would be the last of my many homecomings into Tanjong Pagar.
The crowd at Tanjong Pagar late on 30 June 2011 to witness the departure of the last train.
As I stepped through the barrier, a crowd of would-be passengers heading towards the same train that had pulled in (now the last train out) almost swept me along with them. I managed to squeeze my way out while a frenzy was developing in the public areas. Through the crowd I spotted the Sultan, dressed in a checked shirt and speaking to reporters with tears in his eyes. At the final hour a huge cheer could be heard as the train pulled out, driven by the Sultan. In a daze I stared after it as the train faded into the darkness. It was then that I heard the silence that was there despite the noise coming from the crowd. It was one that filled the air – a silence that after some 79 years would never again be broken by the once-familiar sounds, a silence that spoke of the promise that we now know would never be fulfilled.
This article was written to coincide with the first anniversary of the closure of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and has been published as “Tanjong Pagar Railway Station” in the July / August issue of Passage, a bi-monthly magazine produced by the Friends of the Museums (FOM).
Further information on Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and on the anniversary of the handover:
Photographs of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station on the anniversary of its handover can be found at my post Tanjong Pagar One Year On.
A complete series of posts related to my encounters with Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, the railway and the journeys I have made through the station can be found at my “Journeys Through Tanjong Pagar” page.
Article (in Chinese) that may be of interest published in the Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on the 1st of July in which some my views connected with the Rail Corridor were sought can be found at this link.
This post features a selection of photographs intended to capture part of what had made the much loved Tanjong Pagar Railway Station what it was just prior to its closure, one to celebrate the many faces that provided the station with its heart and soul. The faces are ones that would be familiar, and are not just of the people who were part of the fabric the station, but also of the many that came and went and of the sights and sounds that gave the station its unique flavour, a flavour that, despite the conservation of the building as a National Monument, will fade as memories fade. The photographs are the same ones which were presented during a sharing session at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station open house held on the afternoon of 1st July 2012 – the first anniversary of the handover of the station and the railway land to the Singapore government. The open house was held as part of the Rail Corridor Open Day and also included guided walks around Bukit Timah Railway Station.
While the building, now gazetted as a National Monument still stands, it is the memory of what had made the station what it was – the familiar sights, the people that came and went, and most of all the people who were very much a part of the fabric of the station that will with time fade.
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as it was is a place that always will be dear to me. I have many fond memories of the station from my previous encounters, encounters that go back to the earliest days of my life. Then, it was the food stalls that magically appeared in the evenings at a car park the lights of which dimly illuminate the station’s grand façade and its four triumphal figures. That was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was after the latter half of the 1970s that the station would become a feature in my Chinese New Year reunion dinners – my aunt who hosted the dinners moved to a flat in Spottiswoode Park just by the station and reunion dinners would not be the same without the accompaniment of the sounds of whistles and of the noisy diesel locomotives from the station. The 1990s brought me my many encounters with the station through which I made numerous trips up to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and back – journeys that would forever be etched in my memory. These encounters with the station, and the memorable journeys I made through it, I have attempted to capture through a series of blog posts which many of you might have already read. However if they are of interest, the posts can be found through the page “Journeys through Tanjong Pagar“.
Once familiar sights
A car belonging to the Malayan Railway, KTM, parked in front of the building.
The main hall as it looked at eye level in its latter days – a Tourism Malaysia hut was placed right in the middle of the hall.
The ticket counter in quieter days – well before the madness of the last two months descended on the station.
Waiting to buy a ticket often required some patience.
Especially when the ticketing system is down – that in my experience often happened.
Another sign one might encounter ….
We were always reminded that we had to pay not the equivalent in the local currency for the price of a ticket but one unit of the local currency for every unit of the weaker Ringgit.
And when you did finally get your hands on the ticket, you could find a seat in the main hall to pass your time away …
… which provides many opportunities for people watching …
… or as I often do, have a cup of teh tarik at the platform – a popular spot for watching the coming and going of not just the trains and the locomotives.
Access to the departure platform was through a gate that would only be opened about half an hour prior to the scheduled departure of the trains to facilitate immigration clearance. On the commuter services on which seating is not assigned, passengers would often crowd at the gate prior to departure, ready to make a dash first for the Immigration counters. After clearing Immigration and Customs, the same thing would happen at a barrier which when opened will see a mad rush of passengers to the train carriages.
Tickets would be checked and punched at the departure gate.
From which one would proceed to the immigration counters.
With the shift of Singapore’s CIQ to Woodlands in mid 1998 and the Malaysian authorities maintaining their Immigration and Customs counters at the station, passengers would effectively enter Malaysia before leaving Singapore.
Passengers boarding the last luxury E&O train to depart from Tanjong Pagar posing next to Malaysian Immigration booths.
The last E&O train to depart at the platform.
Returning home, one of the first things that would greet you (post mid 1998) as you walked to the end of the platform was the barrier before you got into the public area. Prior to the move of the SIngapore CIQ, you would first have to pass through Singapore Immigration, Customs and a narrow passage through a fenced area where K9 unit dogs would sniff passengers for smuggled narcotics.
The next thing one would encounter would be the canteen / coffee shop at which one could stop to have a meal or a drink prior to leaving. I often picked up my breakfast from the canteen after coming in on the overnight train from KL.
The canteen would also be a great place to wait for returning members of the family and friends.
It was also a wonderful place to catch up with friends over a cup of tea ….
.. or to have dinner with the family.
It would be common to see passengers with large pieces of luggage leaving the station.
The station had a hotel which closed in the 1980s. Towards the end of its life, it hosted a hostel with dormitory type double bunk bed accommodation which offered a cheap place to spend the night or even take a short rest – this closed in late 2010.
Trying to get a taxi home was always a challenge as many taxi drivers did not like to wait at the station as trains arrival times were unpredictable.
Once familiar faces
One of the first faces one would encounter driving to the station’s car park.
And if one needed to use the rest room.
One that you might have seen at the Habib Railway Book Store and Money Changer, Mr Syed Ahmad.
Mr Syed’s nephew – ‘Nazir’ would probably have been seen more frequently.
The hardworking last Station Master at Tanjong Pagar – En. Ayub.
A very helpful ticketing clerk, En. Azmi, who was posted to the station on 1st July 1990. He completed a full 21 years at the station when it ceased operations on 30th June 2011.
A few more of the familiar faces (and less familiar ones) …
Mr Mahmoodul Hasan who ran the two canteens in the station before its closure.
Some of those who assisted him at the drinks counter and the popular Ramly Burger stand.
One of the ladies from the food stall at the corner of M Hasan 2.
One of the stall assistants at the platform.
The chapati man at M Hasan 2.
One who is always ready with a smile – the Satay stall’s assistant at M Hasan 2.
And last of all one that should not be forgotten – one of the many cats the station was home to.
I stepped into the eerie silence of a world that a little over a year ago, had been one that had seen the frenzy that accompanied the last moments of the old Malayan Railway’s operations through Singapore. The now silent world, Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, is now but an empty shell, abandoned by the trains that regularly punctured the air with the deafening roar of their diesel locomotives as well as by the people who made the station what it was – the hardworking staff of the railway, those who saw to providing it with essential services, and those who came and went with the comings and goings of the trains.
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station 1 year on.
The station was able to momentarily break out of its solitude due to a kind offer by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to the Nature Society Singapore (NSS) and the Friends of the Rail Corridor to open up both Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to the public on the first anniversary of the handover of the station and the Rail Corridor to the Government of Singapore. As a result of this, a Rail Corridor Open Day was very quickly put together. This included a guided walk in the morning held at Bukit Timah Station which was followed by an open house at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in the afternoon. The handful of people that did turn up at Tanjong Pagar, probably numbering about a hundred during the course of the afternoon comprising rail enthusiasts, familiar faces that I met during last year’s frenzy, the curious and some who hail from distant shores, got an opportunity to participate in a guided tour conducted by Dr Lai Chee Kien and learn more about the station and its and the railway’s history.
The main hall during the guided tour – now clear of the Tourism Malaysia hut that had got in the way of achieving a nice perspective in photographs that were taken before the handover.
The open house also allowed some to share some of what they have put together on the station. This included a poignant and very interesting documentary made in 2008, Project 1932, by Zinkie Aw that touches on some of the people who were part of the station’s history. I also had to opportunity to share a series of photographs that I had captured to help me reconnect with the station as it once had been. The series which I named ‘Faces from a forgotten place’ includes once common scenes and once familiar faces, ones that we see now only in the memories we have of a little over a year ago. It is these very memories that I tried to find as I took the opportunity that was presented to explore what I could of the silence. In its emptiness and abandonment, it was not the memories that I was able to find, but ironically, the beauty of the station that I would otherwise not have known – spaces previously occupied and closed to us that even in the state of the two decades of neglect during which time its status had been in limbo is still obvious.
The station in its solitude was able to reveal some of its otherwise hidden beauty.
This beauty that we can still see takes us back to a time when the world had been a different place, to a time when it was thought the station would take its place as the grand southern terminal of the Malayan Railway and the gateway to the Pacific and Indian oceans – a promise that a little over 79 years after it was opened has proven to be one that was never to be fulfilled. What will become of the former station we do not know, its possible second life will be explored in a Design Competition that aims to develop concepts for the future use of the station which has been gazetted as a National Monument, Bukit Timah Railway Station (which has conservation status), and the 26 kilometres of the former Rail Corridor. What I do hope to see would be a use that will not just preserve the memory of the role it was meant to assume and the memories we have of the railway, but also one that with minimum intervention will see it retain not just the beauty that we have seen but also the beauty that has until now been one that has been hidden.
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in its solitude
The emptiness that now fills the station offers another perspective of its beauty.
Once hidden spaces that in the station’s abandonment can now be seen, reveal a side of the station that has until now has not been seen by many.
A view out of the window at the white iron fence that lines the station’s boundary with Keppel Road.
The writing on the wall … a memory in an otherwise hidden space of what the station once was …
Recent writings on the wall … collection of wishes for the station written by visitors to the open house.
View through what was a freight forwarder’s office.
A storage area that was used by the canteen operator.
Windows to a forgotten world.
The silence of a once busy space.
More silence ….
Signs of a forgotten time.
The silence of departure (photo taken with Sony Xperia S).
Last act of the day – security personnel trying to close a platform gate that just refused to be closed …
Do visit my series of posts on my previous encounters with the station, the railway and the journeys I have made through the station which can be found at the “Journeys Through Tanjong Pagar” page on this site.
An article of that may be of interest in the Chinese newspaper Zaobao published on the 1st of July in which some my views on the preservation of memories connected with the Rail Corridor were sought: http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp120701_020_2.shtml … I’ll try to get that translated and posted here for the benefit of those that don’t read Chinese.
A year ago, Singapore was seeing the last days of the old Malayan Railway. The railway had served Singapore over a century, cutting a path through the island first with a line partly running on what is Dunearn Road today over to Tank Road. With the deviation of 1932, the line was set on its last path, turning at Bukit Timah to the docks at Tanjong Pagar. The line fell silent on the 1st of July and with that, all that was left were the physical reminders of the old railway and the collective memories we have of it.
The silence of the morning after a little over 79 years of operations at Bukit Timah Railway Station.
One year on, many of the physical reminders are no longer with us – most of the tracks and sleepers have since been removed and returned to Malaysia. The two station buildings have received conservation status – Tanjong Pagar Railway Station has been gazetted as National Monument and Bukit Timah Railway Station a conserved building. We do know that three other recognisable structures – the two truss bridges that define the Bukit Timah area and a girder bridge that many see as a gateway to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, will remain. There are several other smaller structures that we do see including the surviving signal huts at the various level crossings (the bright yellow one at Kranji Road fell victim to urgent road widening works soon after the 1st of July). It is unfortunate that several structures that still stand, were ones that have not been very well maintained when they were in use. As a result, most of the wooden structures are termite infested and are in rather poor shape. It does look as if, based on the signs that have been placed around the structures, that they may go the way of (if they haven’t already) the other physical reminders that since been removed.
The signal hut at the former Kranji Level Crossing was one of the first to go.
One which sees a “building unsafe” sign is the former Mandai (Stagmont Ring Road) Crossing’s signal hut. This would really be a shame – the hut bears an impromptu memorial on its door neatly scribbled in permanent market pen. Written on the door are the names of the last gatemen, presumably by one of them: Mr P Mohan A/L Ponniah, Mr Hamid B. Hashim and Rodwwan B. Mohd. Salleh. Below the names is a record of the passing of the last train at 2330 hours on the 30th of June noting that the train was driven by the Sultan of Johor as well as the years of the crossing’s operation (1932 – 2011).
The former signal hut of the Mandai Gate Crossing that is structurally unsound.
The memorial to the last gatemen and the last train.
With the removal of this signal hut, little will be left to physically remind me of this level crossing – just those few photographs, and the records and the memories that I have. And of all that I will miss of the old railway, it is the sight of the level crossings that I will most miss – seeing a train cross the road does serve as the earliest memory I have of the railway. As memories fade with the passing of time, it is this memory of the railway that I hope that I will hang on the longest to.
With the tracks and sleepers now removed, there is very little physically left to remind us of the railway.
The outhouse at the Mandai Crossing will also have to go.
It was a year ago that interest in the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway line that ran through Singapore started to peak as the realisation hit many in Singapore that the last days of the railway line were upon us. Many embarked on their own journeys through Tanjong Pagar Station to have the experience of the railway and a journey through the grand old station. There were many who also explored the land on which the railway ran on foot – catching glimpses and taking snapshots to remember a world that was about to change forever. Whether it is from the vantage of the rail carriage or from the ground, there is no doubt many would have realised that a world far apart from the one we lived in existed along the corridor along which the railway ran through, one that in many ways took one, without leaving Singapore’s borders, far away from Singapore.
Masjid Hang Jebat as seen from a passing train. Many otherwise hidden parts of Singapore, some which takes us far away from the Singapore we now know, could be seen from the trains that used to run through Singapore.
One of the places along the corridor that would certainly have been noticed is a cluster of zinc roofed buildings close to where the 778.25 km distance marker was, a place if one was on the northbound train one would pass about 7 minutes out of the station just around the bend after passing under the Gillman Flyover and Alexandra Hospital. The cluster of buildings belongs to the Masjid Hang Jebat, a mosque that lies not on railway land but on a part of Singapore, Wessex Estate, that once was home to British army personnel. It is to Wessex Estate that the mosque owes its establishment; but that it exists to this day is probably a result of the railway that ran beside it – protecting the area from being developed all these years. The name of the surau and later the mosque, comes from Jalan Hang Jebat in Wessex Estate, at the end of which the mosque stands.
The mosque as seen in July 2011, just after the cessation of KTM railway services to Tanjong Pagar.
The 778.25 km marker that once stood close to the mosque.
The setting for the mosque certainly takes one far from the Singapore we have come to know. Set amid the wonderful greenery that the area is blessed with, the coconut palms that tower over the mosque and the cluster of banana trees reminds us of an old Singapore we have quickly sought to forget. On one of my recent visits to the area, a man emerges from the cluster of buildings now decorated with green floral motifs and greets me. He is Jimmy – the man who apparently is behind what now decorates the buildings. Jimmy tells me that the motifs are fairly recent addition, painted on to coincide with the Prophet’s birthday. “The decoration changes every year,” Jimmy says, going on to explain that he was the artist behind the decorations.
The rural setting in which the Masjid Hang Jebat is in.
All evidence of the railway has since been removed.
As I step through what looks like a little canteen that is reminiscent of the ones we find in the villages across the Causeway, Jimmy relates how he has been connected to the mosque since he was a young boy. He then lived in a block of flats in Queens Crescent which has since been demolished and has come to the mosque ever since. Saturdays he says are especially busy days at the mosque and like he did in his younger days, many come for religious instruction (including intending converts to the religion) and to play Sepak Takraw in the yard.
The recently decorated hall.
The artist, Jimmy, posing for a photograph.
It was in fact in serving the residents of the area, Queens Crescent being one, as well as nearby residential clusters in the early days of Queenstown that included Queens Close, Stirling Road and Tanglin Halt, that was instrumental in seeing what was started as surau, a prayer room, expand into the mosque it is today. The surau was built in the early 1960s exclusively for use by Muslim serving in the British forces based in Wessex Estate, in what was an area that was fenced-up (although many in the area managed to find a way in). With the British withdrawal in 1971, the surau and the land on which it sits on were opened up and donations were collected to expand the prayer room into a mosque to accommodate the growing population in the area.
Warong Hang Jebat … a stall set in the mosque’s canteen that is reminiscent of village stalls across the Causeway.
Today, the mosque sits in relative silence, no longer serenaded by the sounds of the railway, evidence of has been removed. It is a refreshing escape from the noise and haste of the new world that Singapore is, but for how long, we don’t know. Behind the mosque, a clump of banana trees reminds me of a world we have long since abandoned. I observe a few kampung chickens coming down from a wooden coop running freely around the grassy area by the banana trees. The chickens, I am told, had until recently been wild – having emerged from the surrounding vegetation after the railway stopped running. That perhaps is a sign that the wild world that was once part of the railway land will inevitably be tamed … My hope is that tamed it is not and the wonderful parts of that world which still are there such as this mosque, will still be there to remind us of that gentler world from which the cold grey one we now live in once came from.
A clump of banana trees reminds me of a gentler world we have long abandoned.
Behind the mosque … a chicken coop holds village chickens that until recently, had run wild.
A view of the mosque from a path that leads to Wessex Estate.
Back in March this year, several illegal occupants of plots of former KTM land along the old Jurong Line along Sungei Ulu Pandan (just north of the Clementi Avenue 4) received notices of eviction from the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) (see Let the bananas grow on State Land). SLA had on acting on complaints made by residents in the area on the nuisance and potential fire hazard caused by the burning of branches and leaves by the occupants, found that the occupants had fenced up plots of State Land for private use, as well as erected make-shift structures that included an outdoor toilet. Stagnant water collected on the plots of land also raise a concern of mosquito breeding. All this made it necessary to evict the illegal occupants.
The farms that received eviction orders are along a stretch of the former Jurong Rail Corridor which has been disused since the 1990s and returned to the State by the railway operator KTM.
While the reasons cited by SLA were not in dispute, several of the individuals occupying the land did express hope that they would be allowed to continue, seeking the help of the Member of Parliament representing the area Ms Sim Ann, who also happens to be the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Law the SLA is under. A positive development that seemed to come out of this was that while in the past very limited discussion would have been possible, discussions conducted with the SLA through Ms Sim Ann seemed to be encouraging with several options explored to allow the use of the land for regulated farming that would benefit the wider community which would involve the granting of Temporary Occupancy Licenses.
Possible location of a 50 x 25 metre plot of land which will be divided to smaller plots which occupants will pay a nominal fee annually for use (click to enlarge).
Based on news that has filtered through this afternoon, it does seem that a somewhat positive outcome has emerged out of the discussion. While it does not seem to be entirely what the occupants had hoped for, it appears that a certain level of farming activities will be tolerated in the area on a 50 by 25 metre plot of land (see map) that will be divided into 30 parcels each measuring 8 by 4 metres for which a nominal annual fee for usage will be charged. The parcels would also be provided with potable water for their use. This would mean that the occupants of the farms in the area would be required to vacate the plots they occupy and move into the designated area – which I understand the majority are in support of as it would allow them to continue with their gardening activities.
URA establishes Rail Corridor Partnership to explore and promote community activities along Rail Corridor
2 May 2012 – The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced today the formation of a Rail Corridor Partnership to look into the programming and promotion of community activities along the Rail Corridor. The Partnership is an expansion of the Rail Corridor Consultation Group, which was formed last July to provide input to the government on charting the future development plans for the Rail Corridor.
With the re-opening of the Rail Corridor on 9 January 2012, the Partnership will look for opportunities to promote community use of the space that spans the entire width of the island from north to south. Representatives from agencies such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore Sports Council, and People’s Association will join the Partnership to further foster public-people sector collaboration along the Rail Corridor.
Collaborative effort to promote activities on the Rail Corridor
President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who visited the ‘Journey of Possibilities’ exhibition at the URA Centre, said, “I am very encouraged that many groups and individuals are taking a keen interest in the Rail Corridor and are actively contributing their ideas and suggestions on the development and uses of the Rail Corridor. I am also glad that URA is stepping up engagements with Singaporeans to develop the Rail Corridor into a unique feature of our urban landscape that can be enjoyed by all Singaporeans.”
Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who chairs the Partnership, highlighted the collaborative nature of the group. He said, “The expanded role of the Rail Corridor Partnership will see a stronger collaboration between public sector agencies, interest groups, and individuals to promote and support suitable activities and events along the Rail Corridor. I hope that our engagement will continue to be constructive and fruitful going forward.”
The URA will work closely with partner agencies to assess the range of possible community uses and events as well as the necessary infrastructural requirements needed to support these activities along the Rail Corridor. The Rail Corridor Partnership will also provide advice on the public engagement efforts and proposed activities for the Rail Corridor. Such activities could span from community level events to national events that utilise the entire Rail Corridor. The feedback gathered from these events would be used by URA to draw up the design specifications and requirements that will form part of the brief for the Rail Corridor Master Plan and Design Competition that is being considered at the moment.
President met with winners of Ideas Competition
During his visit to the ‘Journey of Possibilities’ exhibition, President Tony Tan met with some of the winners of the Ideas Competition who shared with him their ideas for the Rail Corridor. The President was also introduced to members of the Rail Corridor Partnership and jury members of the Ideas Competition.
The ‘Journey of Possibilities’ exhibition features about 80 entries comprising 18 winning ideas, 19 honourable mentions, as well as other innovative entries received for the Ideas Competition. The exhibition also showcases some of the interesting feedback and suggestions received on URA’s Rail Corridor website since its launch in July last year. The exhibition ends on 11 May 2012.
The URA launched the Ideas Competition on 30 November 2011 to draw innovative and fresh new ideas from the public in addressing some of the key challenges and issues in planning for the future use of the Rail Corridor. The Ideas Competition attracted more than 200 submissions from both local and overseas participants. The URA will study the ideas and concepts from all these entries and distil from them suitable design principles and parameters that can form part of the brief for the Rail Corridor Master Plan and Design Competition that may be held in the future.
There has been a fair bit of news on the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) eviction of farmers occupying land along Sungei Ulu Pandan just north of the Clementi Avenue 4 area. The issue first came to light when an impassioned letter, written by the son of one of the farmers was sent to SLA on 7 March to appeal the eviction, which was followed by a Straits Time report “Group told to clear out ‘farm’ on state land” published on 10 Mar 2012. The SLA has since clarified their position, stating the reasons behind the eviction of the farmers who have for several years illegally occupied what is State Land.
Vegetable plots along a former rail corridor. An eviction notice has been posted on each of the farms occupying what is State Land along Sungei Ulu Pandan.
The land in question lies along the Jurong Rail Corridor. The rail corridor was built in the mid 1960s to serve Jurong Industrial Estate and has been disused since the mid 1990s – after which the land was returned to the State by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). The writer of the letter, had written of what the farm had meant to his 71-year-old father who tended to it, which provided “much joy, personal well-being and an avenue for physical activity”. He also added that the space had also allowed his children an education beyond what the classrooms are able to provide.
The farms being evicted are along a stretch of the former Jurong Rail Corridor which has been disused since the 1990s and returned to the State by the railway operator KTM.
The SLA in exercising its right to evict the farmers – not least for the illegal occupation of State land, also cited several reasons beyond illegal occupation. These include the fencing up of the parcels of land involved, the erection of make-shift sheds and an outdoor toilet, as well as the collection of stagnant water which had a potential for mosquito breeding. It does appear that the SLA has acted on complaints made by residents in the area on the nuisance caused by the burning of branches and leaves which has affected the air quality in the area – as well as the act being a potential fire hazard. SLA position has also drawn support from some members of the public – one, Mr Tony Lee, in a letter to the Straits Times Forum published today, brought up an important consideration that “if such squatters are tolerated, more and more will occupy state land illegally”.
Banana trees on State land - some of the younger generation have never seen bananas growing on trees.
There isn’t any doubt about the validity of the concerns raised over the illegal use of land, or on the need to carry out the necessary enforcement on the SLA’s part. This episode does however, open a window of opportunity for the Authorities to look beyond the enforcement of the law (which is there for good reason) and take a step towards a gentler and more inclusive society that has very much been talked about of late. The signs are certainly encouraging based on a news report in today’s edition of the Straits Times (“Let’s talk, SLA tells farmers”, Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 14 Mar 2012). The report does indicate that the SLA has changed its tact slightly and has now opened a channel for discussion with farmers who willing to come forward by 20 March.
A makeshift scarecrow at one of the farms?
While in all probability the discussion would be on a possible extension to the deadline of 20 March imposed by the SLA for the clearance of illegally occupied State Land, I do hope that it goes far beyond that. While that the farms have been illegally set-up and fenced up and that there are public safety and health concerns associated with them is never in question, there is some scope to look into maintaining what is already there and extending access to them to the wider community in the interim (the SLA does note that there are no immediate plans for the use of the particular stretch of land). An idea mooted by a guide during one of the walks organised by the good people behind “We Support the Green Corridor” I attended a while ago, Ms Margie Hall of the Nature Society of Singapore, was that the Authorities grant temporary occupation licences to the farmers. This would not only allow the farmers – mostly retirees, a useful pursuit in their advanced years, it will also permit the use of land to be regulated. This will also allow concerns of residents and the Authorities to be managed and eliminated and its use opened up to the community. It is the community that would stand to gain most from this – allowing both young and old a space in their neighbourhood to which they would be able to escape the urban Singapore we have become to a calmer, gentler and greener Singapore – a Singapore from which we have all emerged from and a Singapore we have long forgotten of.
SLA’s reply to Straits Times article “Group told to clear out ‘farm’ on state land” published on 10 Mar 2012:
SLA makes available vacant State land, pending their development, for interim use by the community for recreational activities. Over the years, SLA has upgraded vacant State land for such uses. There are today 270 community use sites in various parts of Singapore for the community to use and enjoy.
However, State land is a precious resource and must be maintained and managed responsibly. An important principle that we uphold without exception is that individuals or groups of them are not allowed to encroach and lay claim on State land for their private use. Where State land is allowed for community use, it is important that it does not cause disamenities for the neighbourhood, and does not adversely affect the land and the environment, such as causing ground contamination or mosquito breeding.
In this case, some individuals have not only encroached on State land for their private purposes but several of them have also fenced up parcels of land as their “own” and padlocked them for their exclusive use. There are also illegally erected make-shift sheds and even an outdoor toilet (photos attached). During our inspection, we found several ponds with stagnant water which are potential mosquito breeding grounds if left unchecked. We have also received feedback of the burning of branches and leaves which affects the air quality for the residents nearby and are a potential fire hazard.
In the interest of all residents living in the vicinity, SLA’s immediate priority is to stop the burning of leaves and commence vector control measures. We will also give those responsible for the encroachment a reasonable period of time to dismantle and remove the enclosed areas and illegally erected structures, failing which we will have to take action to remove them.
The land is zoned as “Reserve” under the Master Plan 2008 and there are no immediate plans for the site at this point in time. In the interim, SLA will seek and consider the views of the grassroots organisations whether the land can be put to some form of community use for the enjoyment of the residents in the vicinity. However, any such use is interim and will have to cease when the land is required for future development.
The ‘Re-imagining the Rail Corridor’ exhibition, put together by the Friends of the Rail Corridor, in association with the Nature Society of Singapore, and supported by URA, opened this morning at the URA Centre. Visiting the exhibition was Minister of State (National Development) Mr Tan Chuan-Jin. Organised as part of a series of events to help increase awareness on the ongoing engagement on the use of the former railway land and also with the aim to explore, encourage and develop creative ideas for incorporation into the future of the Rail Corridor, the exhibition showcases some initial ideas from architecture and landscape students and design professionals on the future use of the Rail Corridor around six key themes: Ecology, Heritage, Recreation, Transport, Education and Community Gardening.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin speaking to Regina Koo, now of the URA, at the exhibition. Her final year thesis relating to the Velo-Park proposal on the railway land was mentioned by the Prime Minister in his National Day Rally Speech in August of this year.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin looking at an architectural model of the rail corridor.
The ideas being presented involve suggestions for the entire length of the former rail corridor, including one by NUS Architecture student Ng Pei Yun whose idea involves the conversion of the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station into a transportation museum. Other interesting ideas include the construction of housing that resemble train carriages over parts of the corridor and one that involves renaming the corridor as The Singapore Trail, installing a giant see-saw on one of the truss bridges and extending the use of the corridor as a continuous bicycle track. The exhibition is being held at The URA Centre Atrium, 45 Maxwell Road Singapore 069118 from 3 to 28 October 2011 (Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 7pm / Saturdays: 8.30am to 5pm / Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays). Admission is free.
The exhibition will be held at The URA Centre Atrium, 45 Maxwell Road Singapore 069118 from 3 to 28 October 2011 (Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 7pm / Saturdays: 8.30am to 5pm / Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays). Admission is free.
The initial ideas include those for the use of the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station - this proposal by Ng Pei Yun of NUS involves usage as a transportation museum.
Singapore Polytechnic Architecture students speaking to Mr Tan on their ideas - one which includes building housing over the corridor that resemble train carriages.
Another idea is to rename the corridor as The Singapore Trail.
At the exhibition, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin also made an announcement that the ‘Rail Corridor’ (铁道走廊) will be the final project name for development plans for the former railway land. The name which was used by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as the working name when the former railway land was returned to Singapore on 1 July 2011, was chosen from a total of 158 suggestions received by the URA and was one of the top three suggested project names. The other two project names were ‘Rail Trail’ and ‘Green Corridor’. The suggested project names were discussed and deliberated at the Rail Corridor Consultation Group (RCCG) meeting where the members came to a consensus on the final project name being ‘Rail Corridor’.
An idea for a super see-saw on one of the truss bridges.
A model of the entire rail corridor.
A proposal with the fast growing cycling community in mind.
Feedback sought by URA:
The URA continues to welcome feedback and ideas from the community in shaping the future development plans for the railway lands. The members of the public are invited to visit and provide their ideas at http://www.ura.gov.sg/railcorridor.
URA Press Release
3 October 2011
‘Rail Corridor’ endorsed by consultation group to be final project name
Minister of State (MOS) for National Development Mr Tan Chuan-Jin announced today during a visit to the Re-imagining the Rail Corridor exhibition that the ‘Rail Corridor’ (铁道走廊) will be the final project name for development plans for the former railway land.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had used ‘Rail Corridor’ as the working name for this project when the former railway land was returned to Singapore on 1 July 2011. A website was launched on the same day to gather feedback and ideas from the public in shaping the future development plans for the former railway land, including suggestions for a name for the project.
A total of 158 suggestions on the project name were received on the website as at the closing date on 31 July 2011. “Rail Corridor’ was one of the top three most suggested project names received. The other two project names were ‘Rail Trail’ and ‘Green Corridor’.
Final project name – ‘Rail Corridor’
The suggested project names were discussed and deliberated at the Rail Corridor Consultation Group (RCCG) meeting where the members came to a consensus on the final project name being ‘Rail Corridor’.
Mr Jerome Lim, a RCCG member and blogger is in fact amongst those who proposed to have ‘Rail Corridor’ as the project name, as it “reflects the history and heritage of the corridor”.
Another RCCG member, Mr Ho Weng Hin, member of Singapore Heritage Society agreed and noted that the ‘Rail Corridor’ is apt as “it encapsulates the history, heritage and social memories, and also connotes the conceptual and spatial continuity of the former railway land”.
Mr Leong Kwok Peng, Vice President of Nature Society (Singapore) had preferred to keep the name as Green Corridor which was the name given by NSS for its proposals for the former KTM land. However, he is supportive of ‘Rail Corridor’ as the project name, adding that “I am interested to see how the future development plans for the rail corridor pan out eventually, especially in areas where development can co-exist with greenery”.
MOS Tan who chairs the RCCG, reiterates the collaborative nature of the group: “We are all part of this effort and the selected project name is endorsed by the RCCG members. I am glad that our engagement with the members has been very good so far, and everyone has contributed useful inputs and ideas during our regular meetings.”
Re-imagining the Rail Corridor exhibition
The Re-imagining the Rail Corridor exhibition was put together by the Friends of the Rail Corridor, in association with the Nature Society of Singapore, and supported by URA.
The exhibition is envisioned as part of a series of events dedicated to increasing public awareness and deepening understanding of the tract of KTM railway land recently returned to Singapore. It intends to explore, encourage and develop creative ideas for incorporation into the future of the Rail Corridor. Revolving around six key themes: Ecology, Heritage, Recreation, Transport, Education and Community Gardening, the exhibition aims to shape the public’s understanding of and give insight to a rare piece of Singapore’s cultural and natural heritage amidst the urban landscape, and to spark interest in the protection and preservation of this heritage as an extension of our national identity.
The exhibition will showcase some early ideas from architecture and landscape students as well as design professionals on what the future of the Rail Corridor could become. Through these initial ideas, the organisers hope to inspire more Singaporeans to recognise their stake in their surroundings and to engage the public in jointly envisioning the development of spaces around us.
The exhibition will be held at The URA Centre Atrium, 45 Maxwell Road Singapore 069118 from 3 to 28 October 2011 (Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 7pm / Saturdays: 8.30am to 5pm / Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays). Admission is free.
Future plans for rail corridor
The URA continues to welcome feedback and ideas from the community in shaping the future development plans for the railway lands. The members of the public are invited to visit and provide their ideas at www.ura.gov.sg/railcorridor.
Members of the media and the Rail Corridor working group were provided with an update on the track removal works and plans to reopen parts of the Rail Corridor as work is being completed early this morning during a walkabout in the vicinity of Bukit Timah Railway Station with Minister of Law, Mr. K Shanmungam, the Minister of State (National Development) BG Tan Chuan-Jin, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Law, Ms Sim Ann, and officers from the SLA, MND, URA and Nparks.
Minister of Law, Mr Shanmugam briefed members of the media and the Rail Corridor Consultation Group on the progress of SLA's track removal work and the reopening of the Rail Corridor for use by the community.
Mr Shanmugam being briefed by a SLA officer near the truss bridge.
The Minister also responded to concerns raised by members of the public about damage to existing vegetation during track removal works in the vicinity of the station and explained that the SLA had been “aware of the need to preserve vegetation and no trees were removed”. He also stated that turfing works over the area of the removed tracks, which is now quite evident, was necessary to ensure that there was little risk of water ponding. The tracks, all ancilliary structures such as signal posts, kilometre markers and the ballast are being removed and returned as part of the agreement with Malaysia, with the exception of a stretches in way of the platforms of the two conserved stations and the three bridges that will be retained.
Turfing work south of Bukit Timah Railway Station.
A section of the tracks in way of the Bukit Timah Railway Station platform is being retained.
Another view of Bukit Timah Railway Station. Besides the tracks, one sign and several other structures are being kept.
A map at the station showing SLA's removal plans which identify the bridges that will be retained.
The truss bridge at Bukit Timah / Dunearn Roads with trufing work and the portion of tracks to be retained very much in evidence.
The SLA also announced the reopening of a 1.4 kilometre stretch of the Rail Corridor where track removal and turfing work is being completed from the 16th of September. The stretch is from the steel truss bridge over Bukit Timah / Dunearn Road southwards. This will allow members of the public to enjoy walks along the stretch. Work to remove the tracks is scheduled to be completed by 31st December this year and portions of the former railway land will be progressively opened to the public as the removal works are being completed.
Rather than the green SLA signs we are used to, signs welcoming the public are being put up along the stretches of the Rail Corridor that are bing reopened.
The portion of the track being retained at the truss bridge at Bukit Timah / Dunearn Roads. a 1.4 km stretch from the bridge southwards is being opened up to the public from 16th September.
Mr Shanmugam being interviewed by members of the media at Bukit Timah Railway Station.
Mr Shanmugam speaking to Mr Leong Kwok Peng of the Nature Society (Singapore).
The public will also have access to the former Bukit Timah Railway Station building. Members of the public are advised refrain from acts vandalism, which the bridges and the tracks have been subject to. The station as we see today, has been stripped of items belonging to the railway, including signalling equipment and signal levers (except for six that remain). The station sign on the north end has also been returned to Malaysia, with Singapore retaining the one on the south end. The longer term plans for Bukit Timah Railway Station will be part of the URA’s comprehensive review of development plans for the former railway land and their surrounding areas and as part of its review, the URA will study the possibility of marrying development and greenery, such as applying innovative strategies to maintain a continuous green link along the rail corridor without affecting the development potential of the lands.
The Station Master's room at Bukit Timah Station, stripped of the safe which sat on the yellow support structure next to the door.
Another view of the room where the key token signal equipment had once been placed.
All that are left are six signal levers.
Another view of the six signal levers.
Photographs proivided by SLA explaining the track removal process:
In his speech during the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made what appears to be an endorsement of the efforts of the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Urban redevelopment Authority (URA) in engaging various interest groups and the public on the use of the former KTM rail corridor, and also for the idea to develop a green corridor through the land. He cited this as an encouraging example in which Singaporeans are engaging the Government and “going beyond giving views … and coming forward to work with one other and with the government on projects which matter to them”. PM Lee also mentioned creating of “a green corridor along the railway land” citing “many views outside encouraging the government to make this a beautiful green corridor to add to the amenities of living in Singapore” and said that the MND and URA and he are all very keen on this and URA is carrying out an extensive public consultation to look for “creative ways of preserving green spaces without affecting development potential of the land”.
The Green Corridor has received the PM's support ... a butterfly seen at the Clementi Woodland area near Holland Road as track clearing work is being carried out.
PM Lee also mentioned that there were many bright ideas from students, architects, design professionals to use sections as creative arts and performing spaces and to develop a leisure corridor, linked to the park connector network and highlighted a proposal which he mentioned was “creative and imaginative” from a recent graduate of the NUS Architecture Department, Ms Regina Koo who suggested building a “Velo-Park” with bikeways, bike rental stalls, bike club and bike café “where one can have a bite on a bike”, saying that the Government would be looking forward to other good ideas saying “don’t just tell us what to do, but help us to do it”.
A proposal by Regina Koo, a recent Architecture graduate from NUS involves a Velo-Park (MND image via Channel NewsAsia).
Recent images around the Clementi Woodland / Holland Road area:
Tracks have been cleared and beyond the stretch where work first started to remove the tracks, clearance work seems more contained.
Another view of the area - much of the vegetation here is intact.
The scene closer to Bukit Timah Station from the south - turfing work over where the tracks lay is very much in evidence.
Where once the roar of the diesel locomotives broke the silence of the wonderful world that 79 years of the railway passing through it had given, the area is today, as are the trains that passed through it, sadly only a distant memory, overrun by trucks, excavators and tonnes of earth. It was a world where butterflies and dragonflies coloured the green world with their dances of joy, where birds surprise the visitor with their flights of fancy, and where a world we never knew we had offered an escape from that grey urban world we live in. Looking at the photographs of a little more than a month ago, it is hard to imagine what has happened in the last month, with Singapore Land Authority (SLA) moving contractors into the area to remove the tracks, most of the 26 km stretch of which is to be returned to the Malaysians by the year’s end. Nature has a way of regenerating itself and once the work to remove the tracks is complete, I hope that the area is allowed to gain back its former glory and not turned into another manicured piece of greenery that Singapore has too much of.
A train passing through the pristine stretch of the rail corridor just south of Bukit Timah Railway Station. A world that is now lost and one sans the railway, that I hope to see again.
I was on that last train to pull into Tanjong Pagar, one that brought my fellow passengers and me on a final journey, a final homecoming to a station that would on the stroke of midnight the following day cease to be a station. It was a journey that I had been very deliberate on my part, one that I made to bid farewell to a railway and a station that through many journeys I have made, developed a fondness for.
The journey started rather unevenfully. Clarissa and Pooja looking out of the window half an hour out of Segamat.
The final journey was one of a hundred miles, one that started not so much with one step, but with one tweet that set off a wave of interest in the journey. It started in the sleepy town of Segamat, a hundred miles north of Singapore, where many of the passengers on the same journey had congregated at to board the 1759 Ekspres Sinaran Timur which was scheduled to pull into Tanjong Pagar at 2200 – the very last train to pull into Tanjong Pagar. I was surprised by the punctuality of the train when it arrived – something that my many journeys on the railway had not come to expect. That was a positive sign – as a delay of two hours (which wasn’t uncommon) would probably have meant we would not be pulling into Tanjong Pagar.
A NHK crew chats with crew on the last train into Tanjong Pagar.
The journey started quite uninterestingly, with only the news a fellow passenger received over the telephone that the 1300 northbound from Singapore was way behind schedule creating a buzz. This meant that the load it carried of other would be passengers on the train back in couldn’t get on at Segamat as they had planned to. It was at Kluang that they managed to get off the 1300 and join the train we were on and it was at this point when it got much more lively – party horns blaring and food and drinks being exchanged as passengers mingled around within the narrow confines of the passageway.
A view through the cabin.
It was at Kempas Bahru where I guess most of the excitement began. There was word that a cameraman from one of the media teams with us has fallen off the train (we found out that he managed to get back on and wasn’t hurt). Then a call from a Channel NewsAsia reporter and another from a producer from the same station that they had heard that the train was to terminate at JB Sentral resulted in some initial anxiety. The reporter Satish Chenny had intended to board at JB Sentral with a cameraman to cover the final leg through Singapore. I thought to myself, that what was said was probably just said to deter would be passengers crowding at JB Sentral from trying to board the train and mentioned this to Satish. True enough, Satish could be seen gratefully coming onboard after the immigration officers at JB had cleared the train.
20:57 A Malaysian Immigration officer under the glare of TV lights at JB Sentral.
That little bit of excitement did not really prepare me, and perhaps many of the others on board, for what was to follow, but no before the glare of the camera lights were shone right up my face as I tried to savour the final journey through Singapore as we cleared Singapore immigration and customs at Woodlands from the open door of the carriage. It was at Kranji level crossing that we got the first sign of what was to be amazing scenes along the way – crowds of people gathered at the crossings and at visible stretches of corridor along the way to cheer and send the last train off, as the train chugged on a last southbound journey through the darkness of the night lighted by the green stream of light of a laser shone by a fellow passenger with the sound of the chugging locomotive broken by the sounding of the horn by the train driver at short intervals.
21:09 Across the causeway onto Woodlands Checkpoint from where the final southbound journey through Singapore began.
As the train pulled into Bukit Timah Station at the midway point of the journey, a truly amazing scene greeted the passengers on that last train in – a large cheering mass of people had crowded on the platform at which the train came to a halt, making a short stop to await the passing of the last northbound passenger train. As I stood from the opened door scanning the scene before me in bewilderment, a voice called out to me. There right below where I was on the train as it came to a halt stood a dear friend whom I had met through chasing trains over the final months! We both stood there speechless for a moment and as the surprise of the coincidental encounter wore off, exchanged greetings.
21:52 Waiting at Bukit Timah Station
Many had got on and off as the train waited. Some shook hands with Encik Gani, the station master and others had their photographs taken onboard and on the platform. It was a party-like atmosphere all around us. Soon it was time to make the final fifteen minutes of the journey for the final homecoming, and as we pulled out into the darkness of the Clementi woodland for that final leg, I was struck by the realisation that this would be my last train journey through Singapore and the last one that I will make into that magnificent station that holds so many memories for me … Arriving at the platform, I made my way slowly down to the platform and passed under the clock which read 10:37. That was to be the last of many walks I had made coming off an arriving train, one that I did not for this last time hurry at doing. I was asked by a NHK television crew to say a few final words on the platform as my companions walked ahead of me. In spite of the crowd that had gathered around as I made my way out, it then felt that I was all alone, all alone to face the rush of emotion that accompanied the sadness of the final walk. I continued to make my way in a daze, passing the crowd that had gathered around the Sultan of Johor who stood with tears in his eyes as he spoke to reporters and the crowd. He was to drive the last train out. I paused only to take a quick photograph of the Sultan through the crowd and continued into the main hall. I took one last painful look around, that wasn’t how Tanjong Pagar Railway Station had ever seemed to me, but perhaps one that I would want to remember it as, a station that its final hours had finally got the attention it deserved. It was a day that was certainly one to remember. And although it is one that I will remember with a tinge of sadness, it will be one that comes with the fondness of memories that I have of the trains and of the magnificent station that were to be no more.
22:04 Passengers take the hand of Encik Gani.
22:14 The train leave Bukit Timah Station for the final run into Tanjong Pagar.
22:40 Looking down the platform a couple of minutes after arriving before I start my final walk down the platform.
22:42 A final look back ...
22:42 Walking past a stream of members of the staff and press who were making their way onto to the train for the last journey out.
22:43 The Sultan through the crowd.
10:45 The scene before the last train out of Tanjong Pagar departs.
22:46 Workers rush to remove the last bits of furniture from the already closed canteen.
A month after the cessation of the old Malayan Railway’s services through Singapore and into Tanjong Pagar, we are seeing, besides the removal of the tracks, a complete alteration in the physical landscape of one of the prettier parts of what the Nature Society hopes would be a Green Corridor through Singapore, and possibly erasing features of the landscape that one would associate with a former rail corridor.
The view down the corridor in the Bukit Timah Station area on 1st July 2011.
The view from Bukit Timah Station.
Another look at the work in the vicinity of the station. Earth is being filled over the corridor erasing any traces of the former rail corridor.
There is no doubt that the area is one of the favourites amongst the many Singaporeans who now have walked the length of the rail corridor, being one that in its relative isolation was blessed with lush greenery and a wonderful array of bird and insect life. It was here that one can get up close to the munias that frolic on the railway tracks, the noisy parakeets that flutter on the branches of the trees above and even oriental pied hornbills flying overhead. It was also here where one could dance with the wondrous colours of the delightful dragonflies and butterflies and get a breath of wonderfully fresh air as dawn turns into day.
The area was where one could once dance with dragonflies.
There was a wealth of flora and fauna in the area - a pair of Scaly Breasted Munias seen on the railway tracks in June 2011.
The area is also probably one of the less accessible areas of the tracks and there was already some concerns raised prior to the work commencing to remove the tracks in the area about an access road that was being built into the area through the lush Clementi woodland that separates the area from Clementi Road to which the authorities have explained was necessary to facilitate the removal works which was being carried out within an extremely tight schedule and the authorities pledging that SLA and the contractors involved would work with NParks to plan access routes and minimise the damage to the existing flora and fauna. That however does not seem to be what is happening on the ground, and even with photos I have seen and feedback I have received from friends, I was unprepared for what I saw in my first visit to the area since it was closed up to the public on the 18th of July. What greeted me was a scene beyond what I imagined could have happened in a mere two weeks. Beyond the removal of the tracks, sleepers and other structures along that stretch of the corridor, it looks as if the whole area has been transformed into a dusty work yard where there had been some of the most wonderful greenery. The entire width of the corridor seems as if it is not just an access road to the area that is being built, but an entire highway through from Holland Road to Bukit Timah Station, with even soil being brought in to raise the level of what had been the rail corridor erasing any traces that it might have once been a rail corridor. While the vegetation and the animals that make the area such a wonderful place to run off to, may find its way back to the area once work is completed, what is certainly of concern is that all the work that is being done has also altered the landscape of one of the prettiest parts of the rail corridor and with that, a lot of how it had been and any evidence of the railway it may have had is now a thing of the past.
Another view of the clearing and earth filling works.
A wide area has been cleared and now looks like a huge work yard.
The undisturbed view towards Bukit Timah Station on 17 July 2011.
Captioned on a previous post 'The sun sets over the rail corridor': 'A scene that would soon only be a memory - the rail corridor on the 17th of July 2011 just as I want to remember it'. How true it now all seems.
The view towards Bukit Timah Station on 31 July 2011.
Another view towards Bukit Timah Station on 31 July 2011.
Earth is being brought in and the level of the former corridor is being raised.
The new soil that is placed to raise the level of the corridor burying any traces of the original corridor beneath it.
It looks almost as if a road is being built over the former rail corridor.
An excavator sits on new earth being brought in to bury the rail corridor.
Vegetation that has been trampled on by the vehicles in the area.
The human invasion wouldn't be complete without litter left behind to clog streams in the area.
Posts on the Railway through Singapore and on the Green Corridor:
I have also put together a collection of experiences and memories of the railway in Singapore and of my journeys through the grand old station which can be found through this page: “Journeys through Tanjong Pagar“.
Do also take a look at the proposal by the Nature Society (Singapore) to retain the green areas that have been preserved by the existence of the railway through Singapore and maintain it as a Green Corridor, at the Green Corridor’s website and show your support by liking the Green Corridor’s Facebook page. My own series of posts on the Green Corridor are at: “Support the Green Corridor“.
A press briefing was held at the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday during which thoughts on the way ahead for the use of the former railway corridor were shared by the Minister of State (National Development) BG Tan Chuan-Jin. BG Tan spoke of the conviction that the MND and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had in engaging stakeholders, interest groups and members of the public in setting up channels to allow public consultation and feedback. At the briefing, BG Tan also introduced some members of a Rail Corridor Consultation Group which has been formed with members from NGOs, interest groups and individuals representing the various aspects of the rail corridor including the environment, flora and fauna, and areas such as history and heritage. The group would be consulted on ideas, feedback and proposals submitted to the URA and will be expanded to include other interest groups and parties along the way.
A Rail Corridor Consultation Group has been formed to take into consideration feedback from the public and various groups on development plans for the former rail corridor.
BG Tan also mentioned that the public engagement would include various channels for engagement including exhibitions (one of which is being planned by the Nature Society (Singapore) or NSS), and will include a design competition to allow architects and planners to submit proposals, leading up to the development of a concept masterplan in 2013. Some of the stakeholders that would be engaged in an active public engagement phase will also include the 1.2 million residents who populate the areas adjoining the corridor, and also some 98 schools and institutions along the corridor. The MND is also looking at the use of various social media platforms and channels to obtain feedback from the public and make it more interactive to allow online discussions and also provide feedback to the public.
The former rail corridor would be a subject of in concept masterplan to be unveiled in 2013.
BG Tan spoke also of the desire to maintain the corridor as a continuous stretch and the MND is looking at how this can be integrated with the development of the areas around corridor, at the same time reiterating that there was also the need to also serve the needs of land scarce Singapore. The case for a continuous stretch is a key component of the NSS’s proposal which the NSS hopes would serve as a channel for the movement of flora and fauna through the island, for example from the Central Catchment Nature Reserve to the Southern Ridges.
The idea for a continuous corridor to allow movement of flora and fauna across Singapore is something that the NSS would like to see.
On the Jurong extension built in the mid 1960s and has been disused since the 1990s, BG Tan mentioned that this would not be part of the rail corridor development plans. As such areas of the Jurong line for which development plans are already in place, will be developed accordingly. BG Tan spoke also of concerns raised on the fate of the truss bridge and the girder bridges over the Sungei Ulu Pandan and Sungei Pandan respectively. These would not be demolished and have been hoarded up for public safety reasons as the structures are currently in a state of disrepair.
The truss bridge on the Jurong Line over Sungei Ulu Pandan.
On concerns raised over the removal of the tracks, BG Tan reiterated that the tracks would be returned to Malaysia under the terms of the agreement and that the SLA is under intense pressure to meet the deadline set for the removal of the 26 km of tracks and return them by 31 December 2011 as per the agreement. While the most of the tracks would be returned, the good news for heritage groups and railway enthusiasts is that parts would be retained in way of the platforms at Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Timah Stations, and also on the bridges that are being retained which include the two iconic truss bridges along the Bukit Timah stretch of the corridor.
The tracks will be removed as part of the agreement and returned by 31 December 2011. Short stretches will be retained at the station platforms and the rail bridges being retained.
Responding to a question on public access to the corridor, BG Tan replied that parts of the corridor would be opened up as tracks are removed. He also mentioned that with the exception of specific areas which will be hoarded up to facilitate work, a large part of the corridor would be accessible and should members of the public wish to walk in the areas, they should be exercise caution as removal work is being carried out in some areas. On the question of Tanjong Pagar, BG Tan mentioned that there are no immediate plans to open it up, stating that the building needs to be refurbished first. Members of the Singapore Heritage Society have suggested that intermediate uses be found for the building before plans are drawn up for the National Monument’s eventual use.
Stretches of the corridor will opened for public access once removal works are completed.
Public feedback sought:
The URA welcomes feedback and ideas from the community in shaping the future development plans for the railway lands. The members of the public are invited to visit and provide their ideas at www.ura.gov.sg/railcorridor/.
Posts on the Railway through Singapore and on the proposal on the Green Corridor:
I have also put together a collection of experiences and memories of the railway in Singapore and of my journeys through the grand old station which can be found through this page: “Journeys through Tanjong Pagar“.
Do also take a look at the proposal by the Nature Society (Singapore) to retain the green areas that have been preserved by the existence of the railway through Singapore and maintain it as a Green Corridor, at the Green Corridor’s website and show your support by liking the Green Corridor’s Facebook page. My own series of posts on the Green Corridor are at: “Support the Green Corridor“.
A finalist in the Singapore Blog Awards (SBA) for three years, The Long and Winding Road has been named as the best photography blog in the SBA for two years running in 2011 and 2012.
My Macau Experience 2012
To also read about my (and 9 other bloggers') wonderful experiences in Macau courtesy of the Macau Government Tourist Office and Tiger Airways, click on the graphic below:
At least nine Dragon (or Snake) Kilns were once found along the 13th to 18th Milestones of Jurong Road, attracted by the availability of Jurong White Clay - ideal material for clay latex cups. The cups were fired by the kilns to feed a huge demand from the rubber estates in the area. Over the years, most of the kiln closed due to the vanishing demand as the estates gave way to urban development. Only two, both of which have stopped operating commercially, have survived. The area the two, the Jalan Bahar and Thow Kwang kilns, are in is slated for development as a CleanTech Park, and the future for these kilns now looks bleak.
Trailer for BUKIT BROWN VOICES. The a short independently-made documentary tells the story of Singapore's oldest Chinese cemetery on the cusp of major change. Filmed during what is the last Qing Ming (grave sweeping) festival for some families whose ancestors are buried there, we hear their thoughts and memories about what the place and the customs they practise mean to them (a Film by Su-Mae Khoo & Brian McDairmant of Two Chiefs).
The out-of-this-world 54 ha. Bay South Garden of the massive Gardens by the Bay was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 28 Jun 2012. It opening its doors to the public the following day attracted huge crowds on opening weekend. The series of posts here are from several media previews, opportunities to photograph the gardens before it was opened to the public, and of the official opening during which I had a better view of the completed Cloud Forest - one of two cooled conservatories at the garden. Two photographs that I took prior to the opening were among 20 that were selected for a roving exhibition.
Share your personal memories on the Singapore Memory Portal - an initiative by the National Library Board (NLB) as part of the Singapore Memory Project (SMP). The SMP is a national initiative started in 2011 to collect, preserve and provide access to Singapore’s knowledge materials, so as to tell the Singapore Story and aims to collect 5 million personal memories by 2015.
20 Conserved School Buildings (URA)
i Light Marina Bay 2012
i Light Marina Bay 2012, the 2nd edition of Asia’s 1st and only sustainable light art festival, was held from 9 March to 1 April 2012. Themed “Light Meets Asia”, i Light Marina Bay 2012 featured environmentally sustainable light art installations by 31 artists.
Divas Anita Sarawak and Ning Baizura and a host of stars at the Malam Anugerah Seri Temasek 2011
Artistes from the Golden Era of Malay Film and the filmmakers of today from both sides of the Causeway gathered for a Gala Night on 5 Feb 2011 in Singapore, and were entertained by Divas Anita Sarawak and Ning Baizura, as well as Fredo of Flybaits, Sarah Aqilah, Didi Cazli, Rudy Djoharnean, Syamsul Yusof, R. Ismail and Rozita Rohaizad.
Highlights of a heritage tour of Sembawang, with a focus on the Sembawang that I was familiar with in the 1970s. The two and a half hour tour included a visit to the last kampung mosque in Singapore, as well as to several other points of interest in Sembawang. Information relating to the walk and some of what we saw or were transported to can be found in the post “Sembawang beyond the Slumber”.
One Hundred Steps to Heaven (Central - 26 Feb 2011)
I took participants on a walk with the NLB up a hundred steps to the heavenly world of Mount Sophia that was home to the fairy-tale like mansions such as Eu Villa (demolished in 1981). We also explored the neighbouring Mount Emily, the site of Singapore’s first public swimming pool and along with that, some of the areas that were once part of a Jewish and then Japanese quarter. Information relating to the walk and some of what we saw or were transported to can be found in the post “One Hundred Steps to Heaven”.
A Journey through Time (ToaPayoh - 20 Nov 2010)
I took an enjoyable walk back in time with several participants in a heritage trail at the Toa Payoh Library, to a Toa Payoh that was taking its first steps as the first planned satellite town. Details of some of the places we visited can be found in the post “A journey through time: a heritage trail through Toa Payoh”.
Courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), I had the opportunity to have a 4 day adventure in Hong Kong with 9 other bloggers. To read our collective Hong Kong Travel Blog entries, please click on the icon below:
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