Lost Places: the Killiney Road railway bridge

Wouldn’t it be cool to have paraphernalia related to a conventional railway line in the Orchard Road area, such as the now well-known girder bridge that ran over Orchard Road, still in existence today? It may come as a surprise but the bridge was actually one of two bridges that were in very close proximity to one another, with a similar girder bridge running across Killiney Road following on the Orchard Road bridge in the direction of the Singapore and from 1907, Tank Road Station.

The railway bridge at Killiney Road.

From the Killiney Road bridge, the line – part of the 1903 Singapore Government Railway or Singapore to Kranji Railway, took ran down an incline towards the Oxley Road and then curving towards Tank Road level crossing and then towards Singapore Station. The line was extended towards the port and Pasir Panjang in 1907 forcing the shift of the station at the triangular clearing where the National Theatre once stood to Tank Road proper. The line would be absorbed into the Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR) in 1913. In 1932, a deviation turned the line from the Bukit Timah area towards Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

The road bridge at Neil Road – a remnant from the 1907 extension of the Singapore Government Railway.

Speaking of the extension, there is in fact a remnant of this extension – a road bridge at Neil Road that was built to carry the road over the railway which ran through what is today Duxton Plain Park and some of this, as well as the stations along the old Singapore and Kranji Railway is discussed here in this History’s Mysteries episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1HStrNMxxE.

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A final journey through Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, 10 years ago

Remembering the 30th of June 2011 – the last day of train operations involving Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Intended to be a gateway from continental Asia to the Pacific and Indian Oceans when it was built in 1932, the grand old dame, said to have been modelled after the grand railway stations of Europe, was never to fulfil the promise that it was built with, closing for good ten years ago – its last day of operations being 30 June 2011.

On the last train into Tanjong Pagar

More on the station and its final day:

Parting glances: Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as it will never again be

Tanjong Pagar: a promise that we now know would never be fulfilled

A final journey: a tearful departure from Tanjong Pagar

A final journey: the last passage to the north

A final homecoming into Tanjong Pagar

Still an enchanted space

As Singapore seeks to “Singaporeanise” the once magical former rail corridor, another former railway space belonging to the former Jurong Line in the form of the (now extended and spruced up) railway tunnel under Clementi Road, is attracting quite a fair bit of attention — probably for being what the former rail corridor now isn’t. The space, even if it has been cleaned up and made safe in the only way Singapore knows how, has still that “wow” quality for being what is has been for about three decades — wild, relatively untouched and as unSingaporean as it can be.

Here are some photographs taken of it (and the area it leads to) just yesterday:

From the past

The tunnel in 2014.

A visit on May Day 2018.

Postcards from the South

Introducing Postcards from the South.

The 394 page book, a work of love by its author Mahen Bala, offers a wonderful collection of stories of stations and interactions with them, previously unpublished photographs and maps, as well as a historic look at the southern stretches of the Malayan Railway – between Gemas and Tanjong Pagar.

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, Bukit Timah Railway Station as well as the Causeway, which provided a vital link to the Peninsula, also feature.

The book will go on sale in Singapore at Kinokuniya and Select Books in about 2 weeks time. More information on the book can be found at Projek Keretapi Kita.

Cover of Postcards from the South.

Bukit Timah Railway Station and one of its last Station Masters, Atan Ahmad (image : Projek Keretapi Kita).

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (image: Projek Keretapi Kita).

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A new light at the end of the old railway tunnel

Looking quite good is the “new” railway tunnel along the abandoned and largely forgotten old Jurong railway line. The original tunnel was one of three built as part of an industrial line in the early 1960s, allowing goods trains to pass under Clementi Road. All three tunnels are quite surprisingly still intact. Significant bits of the line’s other paraphernalia, such as a truss bridge, five girder bridges, bits of sleepers, rusting tracks, as well as several railway signs, can also still be found.

The light at the end of the “new” tunnel.

A view from the inside in 2014.

The “new” tunnel, actually the old tunnel refurbished with an extension added is part of a preserved stretch of the Jurong Line. The stretch that is being kept runs from the point at which the line branched off just south of Bukit Timah Railway Station over to the very visible truss bridge over the Ulu Pandan River.

An eastward view of the tunnel entrance.

Waterlogged tracks leading to the tunnel entrance in 2014.

An extension to the tunnel was required due to the widening of Clementi Road. An effort seems to have been made to also maintain the tunnel’s original character with the retention of its corrugated lining (even if that may have had to be replaced) and also the extension into the extended length of the tunnel. Tracks, and substitute concrete sleepers have also been laid in way of the extension. What is also good to see that the water collected in the previously flooded tunnel has also been drained as part of this effort.

Remnants of the line’s tracks on the western side of the tunnel.

More on the tunnel, the Jurong Line and its remnants, can be found in the following posts:

• The Lost World
• Journey to the West
• The Human Train to the Sunset

More on the railway can also be found at : Journeys through Tanjong Pagar

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A May Day walk to the tunnel.

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The beer train from the Anchor Brewery

A wonderful set of photographs popped up On a Little Street in Singapore last week. The photographs were posted by Lies Strijker-Klaij and includes several of the old Anchor Brewery at which Mrs Strijker’s husband, the photographer, headed its Brewhouse and Bottling Hall in the 1960s as an employee of Heineken. The set of the brewery includes several rare photographs of the railway siding and the bonded store that was sited across Alexandra Road (where IKEA stands today), as well as an overhead conveyor bridge that was used to convey beer across to the store. Together with the brewery, the bridge was a longtime landmark in the area.

An aerial view showing the brewery, the bridge , the bonded store, and the railway siding (photo: Th. A. Strijker).

The brewery, occupied the spot where Anchorpoint (the shopping mall) and the Anchorage (a condominium) stands today. It was one of two breweries along a partly industrialised Alexandra Road, the other brewery being the Malayan Breweries Limited (MBL), a venture between Fraser and Neave (F&N) and Heineken. The Anchor Brewery, producing Anchor Beer, began as a $1 million venture by the Dutch East Indies based Archipel Brouwerij Compagnie named the Archipelago Brewery Company (ABC) on 4 November 1933. As a rival to MBL, which produced Tiger Beer, it entered into a five-year pooling agreement in March 1938.  The agreement, secured for it a 40% share of the beer market and 70% of the stout market in Malaya, with the intention that it was to eventually be extended to the breweries’ other markets in Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong and China.

The bridge to the bonded store over Alexandra Road, 1969, decorated for the 150th Anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore  (photo: Th. A. Strijker).

A turn of events in Europe just one and a half years later would lead to MBL’s acquisition of ABC. Britain had declared war with Germany following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. ABC, which Germany’s Beck’s Brewery had an interest in, was then abandoned by its German management team and found itself in the hands of the government, who decided to keep the brewery running under their care before putting it up for sale in 1940. MBL submitted the winning bid and set up a subsidiary – the Archipelago Brewery Company (1941) – to run the brewery in 1941.  It wasn’t to be long however before another turn of events – the Japanese invasion and occupation – saw the brewery’s operators change hands once again when Dai Nippon, the producer of Asahi Beer in Japan, was asked to operate the brewery from late 1942.

The bonded store and a train leaving it (photo: Th. A. Strijker).

MBL returned to running the breweries after the war and it was in this post-war period in 1949 when the conveyor bridge, built 6 metres above Alexandra Road, was added along with a bonded storehouse (where IKEA is today). A private railway siding, connected the store with a pre-existing industrial branch line that connected with the main line across Jalan Bukit Merah. The industrial line was in use until the early 1980s, after which it was dismantled. The brewery closed in 1990 when MBL’s brewing operations were relocated to a new factory in Tuas and together with its iconic conveyor bridge and its store, were demolished in 1993 – except for a Arts and Crafts movement inspired house along Alexandra Road – the former residence of the brew master. The conservation building, now used as a restaurant, along with several hints of the former brewery found in the names of the mall and condominium that has replaced it (and also the ABC Brickworks Food Centre), are all that now remains of a brewery that introduced to Singapore what became until the 1980s at least, its favourite beer.

A loaded train leaving the siding (photo: Th. A. Strijker).

366A Alexandra Road – another Arts and Crafts styled house in the brewery compound – in which Mr and Mrs Strijker lived in (photo: Th. A. Strijker)  

The former Brewmaster’s House – conserved in 1993.

Light at the end of a tunnel

The tunnel under the circus at Jalan Bahru (now where Jurong Town Hall Road passes under the Ayer Rajah Expressway) was one of three railway tunnels built for the industrial Jurong Railway Line. The line, built as part of the development of Jurong Indistrial Estate in the mid 1960s, was one of the more profitable sections of the Malaysian run railway and fell into disuse in the early 1990s.

Large parts of the abandoned line have since been built over, although several sections of it, including a series of steel and concrete bridges and sections of tracks can still be found. The tunnels, all of which were constructed by Hong Guan Construction Engineering Co. Ltd. and lined with corrugated steel, are also still around. The westernmost tunnel, now under Jurong Pier Circus (previously the junction of Jalan Buroh and Jalan Pabrik) is difficult to reach. A third tunnel,  under Clementi Road, is being extended for the road widening project taking place above it.

Second stretch of Rail Corridor to be closed on 19 September

The second stretch of the Rail Corridor being affected by the Murnane Pipeline Project, which extends from Commonwealth Ave all the way southwards to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, is being closed to the public from 19 September 2016.

A section within the stretch, from Jalan Kilang Bahru to Tanjong Pagar, will remain closed until the pipe laying project is completed. Its reopening is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Part the stretch to be closed at Tanglin Halt, seen in the days of the railway.

Work has already commenced in the initial  section that was closed. The final section affected, from Jalan Anak Bukit to Holland Road, will close later this year.

Beside the closures affecting the Rail Corridor, work on the final stretch of the MRT’s Circle Line will see Tanjong Pagar Railway Station closed from next year. The station, under which the MRT line is being run, will only reopen in 2025. Updates on the Murnane Pipeline Project, and on the closure and reopening of the affected stretches, kindly visit the PUB Facebook Page.

Schedule for closure of the southern stretch of the Rail Corridor (click to expand).

Parting glances: Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as it will never again be

The time has come to say goodbye, albeit a temporary one, to another old friend. The former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station is set to be closed come the new year so that the extension of the Circle Line MRT and the construction of a MRT station can go on beneath it. If all goes well, it will only be reopened in 2025, by which time it will have a feel that will be very different  that which has existed at the station through the grand art-deco inspired station’s 84 year history.

The famous façade of the station features four triumphal figures sculptured by Angelo Vannetti of the Raoul Bigazzi Studios in Florence that represent the then four pillars of the Malayan economy.

The former station holds the memories of many. The railway’s mostly Malaysian staff still speak fondly of their days in what has to be one of the grander stations to serve along the Malayan railway. There also are the memories of the numerous passengers who passed through its especially grand vaulted main hall; many depended on the railway not just for forays across the causeway, but also as a well used link for the thousands who commuted from the homes in southern Johor to Singapore for their work and even to attend school.

Murals decorate the main hall. The hall also features two booths made of teak wood that have since been painted over.

A view of the main hall without the clutter of the last days.

As part of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop a concept plan for the Rail Corridor, which was returned to Singapore on 1 July 2011, a concept design was sought for the adaptive reuse of the former station for an interim period of 20 years. During this period, the nearby port facility the station had been positioned to serve, will make a westward move, following which plans for the Greater Southern Waterfront, into which the former station will be incorporated, will be firmed up.

The end of the line. This year is the last year we get to take in this perspective. It is one that has greeted three generations of travellers coming by train to Singapore for some 79 years before the closure of the railway at the end of June 2011.

The completion of the Circle Line also dovetails into this and the tunnels for the line will run directly under the station to minimise the potential for uneven ground settlement and the risk of damage to the precious structure of the National Monument. A MRT station, Cantonment Station (its working name), is also being built under a part of the station’s platforms. For this, sections of the platforms, which had apparently been assembled in a modular manner, will be removed and stored to allow excavation work to be carried out for the MRT stations’s construction. The intention will be to reinstate the removed platform sections and refurbish them after the work for the MRT station is completed.

Gaps in the station’s platforms, said to be amongst the longest in the Malayan Railway’s stations, point to where the modular sections come together.

One of the things that is apparently being looked at by the winning team for the RFP’s adaptive reuse of the former station, is how, besides the use of the station as a gateway into the Rail Corridor as a community space, is the integration of the MRT station under its platforms into it. This may see an additional MRT station entrance between the platforms that will see traffic of passengers of the new train line over the platforms and through the former station’s main building.

An impression of the MRT station’s entrance between the platforms produced by MKPL. New platforms are shown in this impression as it was initially thought that the sections of the platforms in way of the MRT station would have to be demolished to allow excavation work.

The reverse view of the proposed MRT station’s entrance between the platforms. A canopy over it will be one of the interventions that will be necessary (MKPL).

While this may necessitate several interventions that will alter the feel the former station once provided, it will be a rather meaningful outcome for the former railway station that in the words of the winning team MKPL Architects Pte Ltd and Turenscape International Ltd, will have “the former station, connecting Singapore’s past, present and future”. Another thing being looked at is the beautifying of the space fronting the station currently used as a car park as a “Station Green” – a landscaped garden intended to allow a better appreciation of the station’s grand façade.

MKPL/Turenscape proposes to replace the car park, currently in front of the former station, with a landscaped garden.

For those who want to take a last look at the former station before it closes and is forever altered, only three opportunities possibly remain. These coincide with the anticipated open houses that will be held over the year’s three remaining public holidays. The last will be Christmas Day, a widely commemorated holiday that for the members of one of the larger religious communities here in Singapore, is one of promise. Built with a promise that could never be fulfilled, the grand old station will close after Christmas Day, with a new promise for its future.

The length of the platforms, said to be among the longest in the FMSR’s stations, were to accommodate the longest mail trains.

A look up what in the station’s last days, was the departure platform.

Immigration counters on the departure platform last used by Malaysian immigration officers. These will surely be removed.

One of two hydraulic stops at the end of the tracks – one was returned following the handover of the station.

Memories of teh tarik.

Rooms that were used by freight forwarders at the former station – these possibly will be converted for use by F&B or retail outlets in the future.

Another look into a freight forwarders’ storeroom.

A booth. Last used by the auxiliary police at the station, the booth had in its early days, been used by the convenience shop that operated at the station.

The inside of the former ticketing booth.

Beautiful soft light illuminates some of the rooms along the main hall.

A part of the platforms where one could watch the world go slowly by over a cup of teh tarik in the station’s last days.

Another view of the main hall. There are lots of stories related to the haunting of the third level (section under the letters FMSR at the far end), used previously by the Station Hotel.

The clutter of the main hall in the station’s last days.

The crowd witnessing Tanjong Pagar’s last moments as a station late on 30 June 2011.

Last journeys.

A final glance at the main hall.

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A look back at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

Gazetted as a National Monument in its final days as the southern terminal of the Malayan Raliway, the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was built in 1932 as a centrepiece that would underline Singapore’s growing importance as an economic centre in the British Far East. Its position was carefully considered for its envisaged role as a gateway from the southernmost point in continental Asia to the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Sir Cecil Clementi the Governor of Singapore, in his address at the station’s opening on 2 May 1932, made the observation that it was “a natural junction between land-borne and sea-borne traffic”, adding that it was “where every facility will be afforded for interchange between railway and ocean shipping”.

It was a promise that was not to be fulfilled. Sir Cecil could not have predicted that the railway’s importance as a means of transportation in the Malayan peninsula would diminish and just a little over 79 years since the 5.1.5 pm arrival of the first train from Bukit Panjang Station, the whistle of the last train to depart was heard late into the night of 30 June 2011. An agreement between the governments of Singapore and Malaysia (who through the administration of the railway, also owned the station and the land on which the railway operated through Ordinance 22 of 1918 or the Singapore Railway Transfer Ordinance 1918), which had taken two decades to sort out, saw to the move of the railway’s terminal to Woodlands and with that the transfer ownership  the station and much of the railway land on the island to the Singapore government on 1 July 2011.

Since its closure, the station fell into disuse with the odd event held in the space, and in more recent times, a series of open houses held during public holidays. The location of the former station in what will become the Greater Southern Waterfront has put permanent plans for it on hold. A concept plan for an interim use is however being developed as part of the Rail Corridor RFP by a team led by MKPL Architects and landscape designers Turenscape International. An MRT station for the final stretch of the Circle Line is also being constructed under a section of the platforms, together with the line being run under the station. The work being carried out means that the former station closed to the public for a substantial period of time with the completion of the MRT scheduled for 2025.

The station found use after its closure as an event space.

The rush by the staff at the station to leave on the last train at the end of the final day of operations.

A final journey on the Malayan Railway on 30 June 2011.

A last breakfast on 30 June 2011.

A reflection on the convenience store and the main hall in the last days.

The very hardworking last Station Master at the station, En. Ayub.

The arrival platform with its meal time crowd.

Coming home.

The welcome. One of the first things that would greet passengers after mid 1998 when the Singapore CIQ was relocated to Woodlands. Prior to the move, it would have been necessary to pass through Singapore Immigration, Customs and a narrow fenced passageway where dogs (behind the fence) would sniff passengers for narcotics.

The wait for a loved one.

Watching the world go slowly by over a cup of teh tarik.

The departure gate.

Leaving on the 8am.

The walk to Spooner Road.

Platform end.

Saying goodbye.

A welcome home.

The very friendly En. Azmi. He was posted to the station on 1st July 1990 and completed a full 21 years of service at the station when it ceased operations on 30th June 2011.

Mr Mahmoodul Hasan, the M. Hasan in the name of the station’s makan place. He ran the station’s two canteens before its closure.

Catwalk – one of the many cats the station played host to.

A view down the platform.

The ticketing counter.

An all too common occurrence at the ticketing counter.

The last Eastern and Oriental Express train to depart.

The Ramly Burger stand. Food was one of the draws of the station.

The day the music died. 12.45 pm on 24 June 2011, when the last plate of Briyani from the popular Ali Nacha stall at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was served.

The arrival.

The festive crowd – when queues formed for tickets in the lead up to Chinese New Year. Many with roots in Malaysian would return by train to their home towns for the important holiday (photo source: National Archives online).

The main hall of the station in its early days. The station was built in 1932 to serve as a gateway to the oceans, through the wharves at Tanjong Pagar.  Its opening on 2 May 1932 was marked by the 5.15 pm arrival of a train from Bukit Panjang. The first the public saw of it however, was several months prior to this, when it was used for a Manufacturer’s Exhibition in January 1932.

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Lost beauty

I can’t help but feel a sense of loss wandering around the former Bukit Timah Railway Station. Set in one of the greener and isolated stretches of the rail corridor in the days of the railway, it was a magical place that had the effect of taking one far away from the madness of a Singapore that had come too far too fast. Now a sorry sight behind an unsightly green fence, its still green settings is an much altered one scarred by the removal of the railway’s tracks and ballast, turfing and maintenance work.

The station had a special charm. Built in 1932 as part of the railway deviation scheme, it wore the appearance of a rural railway station, especially in surroundings that were most unlike the post-independence Singapore we had come to know. A passenger station in its early days and a point where racehorses transported for races at the nearby turf club were offloaded, the station in its latter days functioned more as a signal box for the exchange of key tokens (the token handed authority to the passing trains for the use of the single track that ran south to Tanjong Pagar and north to Woodlands).

The world around station is due to be upset further. Work to lay a water pipeline that will supply Singapore’s future needs, will start in the area of the station, is due later this quarter.  It will only be at the end of the 2018 before the area is to be reopened, when it will, without a doubt, bear the scars left by the activity. There is however hope for its restoration, at least as a green space. This future, is now in the hands of the winning design consultants for the Rail Corridor concept plan.

As part of the concept plan, a detailed design exercise is being carried out for a 4 km signature stretch. This includes the area of the former station. Feedback obtained through engagement efforts with various stakeholders and the public is being taken into consideration for this. What is left to be seen is its outcome, which should be interesting to see. This should be made public in the months ahead. It would of course be impossible to recreate the world that once was, but what would be good to see in the detailed design is that it remains a place in which one can run far from a Singapore we already have too much of.

 

 

 

5 years ago tonight …

The scene at Bukit Timah Railway Station as the Sultan of Johor drives the last trains through Singapore out of the station towards Woodlands and Johor.

Update on closure of the Rail Corridor

The first stretch of the Rail Corridor affected by the Murnane Pipeline Project, will be hoarded up and closed from Monday 27 June 2016. The stretch is  from Holland Rd (near Greenleaf Estate) to Tanglin Halt Road (including the former Rail Corridor Art Space). Exact dates for the closure of the remaining stretches affected (see graphic below), which are scheduled for the third quarter of 2016, are still being worked out. The corridor will be reopened in parts as work is completed from the end of 2017 to the end of 2019. More information on the project and the how the Rail Corridor could be affected is available in some of my earlier posts:

• Goodbye for now my friend
• The last Green Corridor Run
• In the pipeline – a partial closure of the Rail Corridor
• The Rail Corridor that will be forgotten
• Another new journey along the Rail Corridor

A view of the first stretch of the Rail Corridor to close for the pipeline project.

Updated schedule for closure of the southern stretch of the Rail Corridor (click to expand).

 

Goodbye for now my friend

Like a thief in the night, change in Singapore comes swiftly and suddenly. One big change, albeit temporarily, that will soon be upon us, involves yet another space I have a fondness for. This is the stretch of the former rail corridor between Bukit Timah Road and Holland Road. The greenest part of the Green Corridor, as the very green rail corridor has been christened by the movement calling for its preservation as a green space, it has been one the the few escapes I am able to find from a Singapore that has been over concretised. While the work is not meant to leave a permanent scar on the Green Corridor, the changes it may bring to the corridor visually could take many more years before it regains the appearance of the world I had grown to love.

My favourite stretch of the Rail Corridor in greener days.

Work will soon begin to lay a pipeline that is intended to address the growing city centre’s needs far into the future. Some 11 kilometres of the former corridor will be affected stretching from Rifle Range, where the Murnane Service Reservoir is, southwards to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (which will itself be closed off from 2017 to 2025 for the construction of a Circle Line MRT Station below ).

Existing water pipelines close to Murnane Reservoir.

The affected parts of the corridor will be closed off in phases, commencing with the stretch between Holland Road and Commonwealth Avenue in the later part of June 2016 with the other stretches being closed from te third quarter of 2016. The various stretches will be reopened as work is completed with the Holland Road and Commonwealth Avenue stretch’s opening scheduled for the end of 2017. The stretches between PIE / Jalan Anak Bukit and Holland Road and Commonwealth Avenue to Jalan Kilang Barat are scheduled to reopen by the fourth quarter of 2018, while the southernmost stretch of the corridor will be the last to reopen at the end of 2019.

One of the stretches affected, at Tanglin Halt, during the days of the railway.

First announced close to two years ago in June 2014, one of the tasks before work was to start was the development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to look at possible impacts and recommend mitigation measures during the period of pipe laying. An environmental consulting firm, CH2M Hill Singapore Consulting Pte Ltd, was engaged to carry this out and also to develop an Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP). This, as members of the Rail Corridor Partnership who attended a briefing on it earlier this week had understood, has been accepted by the various Government agencies involved.

Bukit Timah Railway Station, around which the pipeline would be run to avoid damage to the heritage structure.

While EISs and EIAs  may involve qualitative identification of threats and assessments of the severity of their impacts, and contain an element of subjectivity, they have an important role to play in the management of invasive activities in environmentally sensitive areas. In the case of the pipeline, work is certainly needed, and having an EIS carried out is better that not having one done at all.

Another heritage structure, to which impact is avoided, the truss bridge at Bukit Timah. Here the pipejacking method will be employed and the pipeline will be run deep underground, under the Downtown MRT line.

One key finding of the EIS was on the impact the initial planned routing of the pipeline in the vicinity of Murnane Reservoir would have had on the flora nad fauna rich area of dense secondary forest through which the pipeline was to be run (on the opposite side of Rifle Range Road). This prompted a rethink, which involved much effort, to have the pipeline’s path altered to avoid the secondary forest. In most instances, impacts following mitigation measures are maintained at negligible to minor, with the a few exceptions.

A Oriental Pied Hornbill in the sensitive Holland Woods area.

One especially sensitive area identified by the EIS is in the Holland Woods area, just south of the former Bukit Timah Railway Station, which contain several fauna hot spots. Several unexpected species of animals were recorded during the survey carried out as part of the EIS, including the Malayan Giant Frog and the Civet. The impact to fauna in this area after mitigation is expected to be moderate. In all, some 188 species of fauna were recorded, 11 of which are non-native, with 458 species expected. Other impacts considered, include that to the landscape, airborne noise, ground borne noise and vibration, damage to waterbodies as well as to commercial and recreational activities.

Disruption to users of the rail corridor such as walkers, joggers and cyclists, will be minimised throughout the construction period by the provision of alternative pathways.

Beyond the laying of the pipeline, the former rail corridor will probably be the subject of redevelopment efforts aimed at preserving it as a continuous green corridor that will at the same time be of use to the wider community. Based on the information previously provided by the Urban Redevelopment Authority overseeing this, the detailed design for a 4 kilometre signature stretch from Bukit Timah Railway Station (BTRS) to Hillview Road area. The outcome of this, which would have taken in public and stakeholders’ feedback, and the visual impact it will possible have on the corridor, is yet to be seen.

The rail corridor at the halt at Tanglin

Change is about to come to the Rail Corridor. Its southern half will be closed from the second quarter of 2016 to allow a water pipe to be laid under it, and I suppose that before it can recover from this intervention, we could see work being started on transforming parts of the corridor into a space that will have an appeal to the wider community.

The stretch of the corridor in the days of the railway (c. 2010) at the former Tanglin Halt – a place that could transport you far from the madness that is Singapore.

I wish to remember the corridor as it was in days when it attracted little interest. Ignored and left to the railway, the space grew into one that had a magical feel to it, a space one could quite easily lose oneself in. While the space still serves as an escape some four and a half years after the railway ceased operating through it, its magic has diminished. Stripped of most of its railway paraphernalia, turfed over, trampled on and worked on, there is now quite a different feel to the corridor.

The Rail Corridor, near the Clementi woodland, in greener days.

One stretch of the railway I would like to remember as it was is what, if the planners have their way, will become a “Cultural Valley”, “a vibrant activity space where workers and nearby residents can enjoy activities such as outdoor film screenings”. It is what I hope will not be, a transformation that threatens to have us forget the joy the space would once have given us.

Already in a state of flux – parts of the same stretch near the Clementi woodland have temporarily taken on the appearance of the concretised world that the railway has long kept away.

Already, we have all but forgotten it as a train stop, Tanglin Halt; even if this is remembered in the name of the adjacent public housing neighbourhood. Lines also branched off in the area, serving the British military at Wessex Estate and at Ayer Rajah. The stop, the branch lines, and its platform, had disappeared by the time I first set eye on the stretch. All that was left of the halt was a rather worn looking building, decorated as all abandoned buildings outside of Singapore might be (technically it stood on a piece of Malaysia). That vanished from sight almost immediately after the land was handed back; an aberration perhaps in the landscape that needed to be removed once it had become incorporated into the overly manicured Singaporean landscape.

A 1945 map showing the train halt.

The Tanglin Halt area today.

The Cultural Valley being proposed at Buona Vista.

It is strange that similar renderings found on the missing structure, have, with official sanction, decorate the structures under a road bridge just a stone’s throw away. The Rail Corridor Art Space, thought up by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Arts Council (NAC), which was launched in December 2013, provided would be graffiti artists with an outlet to add colour to what would otherwise have been the grey of dull concrete.

The southward view.

And a northward view.

Like the corridor, the space will soon lose its colour. Work to lay the pipe will require the corridor south of Holland Road, including this Buona Vista stretch, to be closed. While we can look forward to sections of it progressively reopened from the fourth quarter of 2017, this stretch of the corridor would probably bear no resemblance at all to the magical world I might once have found an escape in.

Coloured concrete under the Commonwealth Avenue viaduct.

The last Green Corridor Run

The last Green Corridor Run, which attracted some 11,000 runners, took place this morning. The run takes participants over a 10.5 kilometre stretch of the disused railway corridor from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Bukit Timah Railway Station.

Held annually since 2013, the run will have to be discontinued after this year’s edition due to the closure of the Rail Corridor from the 2nd quarter of 2016 to allow work on the Murnane Pipeline Project to be carried out. More information on the closure can be found in a previous post: In the pipeline – a partial closure of the Rail Corridor

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More photographs from the 4th Edition of the Green Corridor Run

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In the pipeline – a partial closure of the Rail Corridor

Information received from PUB:

The PUB will be commencing work for the laying of Murnane Pipeline Project (see also : The Rail Corridor that will be forgotten) in the 2nd quarter of 2016. Half of the pipeline will run beneath the Rail Corridor. The works will be carried out in phases and is expected to complete by 2019. For public safety, PUB will temporarily close off the stretch of the Rail Corridor south of Holland Road during this period, and progressively reopen sections from the 4th quarter of 2017 after the pipeline has been laid and the ground reinstated.  The rest of the Rail Corridor will remain open to the public.

The Rail Corridor when it was in use  – the stretch south of Holland Road will be closed from Q2 2016 and will reopen in sections from Q4 2017to allow a new service pipeline for treated water to be laid.

PUB’s Facebook page will provide updates on the Murnane Pipeline Project.

PUB Graphic on the Murnane Pipeline Project (click to enlarge):

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Click here for an update of the closure on 24 June 2016

Rail Corridor Roving Exhibitions & Community Workshops

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will holding a series of roving exhibitions in March and April 2016 to bring the Rail Corridor concept master plan proposals to the communities around the corridor.

The Rail Corridor in greener days.

The schedule is as follows:

Date	Venue	Nodes to be Featured
2 – 8 Mar	Tanjong Pagar CC Queenstown CC	Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Queensway Viaduct
9 – 29 Mar	Ulu Pandan CC Bukit Timah CC	Buona Vista Bukit Timah Railway Station PIE Viaduct (Mayfair Park) Former BT Timah Fire Station
30 Mar – 5 Apr	Yew Tee CC Fuchun CC	Stagmont Ring Kranji

Feddback provided to the URA will be used in refining the concept master plan.

Along with this, several community workshops will also be held. The workshops are aimed at small groups of stakeholders with limited experience with the Rail Corridor. The target audience includes the elderly, families, students, sports and hobby groups and the physically handicapped to allow the planners an understanding of how the Rail Corridor can best meet the needs of these groups.

To find out more and to register for the workshops, do visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1679154039004908/ and https://www.regonline.sg/Urail. The URA intends to utilise feedback and ideas generated from the exhibitions and workshops to refine the concept master plan. More on the Concept Master Plan and the Rail Corridor RFP can be found in the following posts: The Rail Corridor, what will be and The Rail Corridor that will be forgotten.

The Rail Corridor that will be forgotten

I miss the days of the railway.

Those were days when the rail corridor, long insulated by the wave of modernisation that swept across Singapore, had a special and a somewhat magical appeal. Free from the fuss and clutter of the maddingly ordered world there is little escape from in Singapore, the corridor was where time seemed to have long stood still.

It still is a place to run off as its awaits its future. Even with the reminders of the railway dismantled, its still bears some semblance to the corridor in the days of passing trains. The  relatively undisturbed world will however, soon see a disturbance that threatens to have us forget the joy that was the corridor of old. Soon to commence work will see a large portion of the corridor dug up to allow the laying of a water pipe that will carry water from the Murnane Service Reservoir off Rifle Range Road into the city (see: Another new journey along the Rail Corridor).

Along with the digging, scheduled to be completed at the end of 2019, the corridor is also the subject of an effort to expand its use by a wider community. A concept plan, which attempts to integrate the hopes and wishes of various interest groups and stakeholders, is currently under public scrutiny. This plan is being exhibited at the URA Centre and proposes several interventions.

The former well-loved railway terminal at Tanjong Pagar will also not be spared from upheaval. The former station, part of which has been gazetted as a National Monument, will see part of its iconic platforms – dimensioned for the longest mail trains, removed to allow a Circle Line 6 MRT station to be built. Studies are being done to determine if the removed sections can be reinstated upon the MRT station’s completion. Work for will start in 2017. It will only be in 2025, when the MRT station is completed, that we can hope once again to admire the wonderful perspective that the platforms provide.

All that is intended will deprive us of access to some of the best parts of the former railway and its land. We must hope that the corridor, as well as the former station’s platforms, are returned to the state at which they were best appreciated. The fear though is that by the time we can once again enjoy the corridor and its structures in their entirety, the world that used to be will be little more than a distant memory.

The Rail Corridor, what will be

The header of a graphic produced by the Straits Times related to the winning concept master plan for the Rail Corridor Request for Proposal reads “On track for big changes”.  It isn’t a big change however that many who came out in support of the idea to keep the Rail Corridor, much of which had been untouched by development during the days of the railway, as a continuous and undeveloped green space, were hoping to see.

A new journey along the rail and hopefully still green corridor.

A panel at the ‘Rail Corridor – An Inspired and Extraordinary Community Space’ exhibition.

The long anticipated announcement of the winning entries for the RFP to develop a concept master plan and concept proposals for the entire 24 km stretch and two special interest areas, launched in March of this year, was made at yesterday’s opening of the ‘Rail Corridor – An Inspired and Extraordinary Community Space’ exhibition at the URA Centre, by Minister for National Development, Mr Lawrence Wong.

Minister for National Development announcing the awards for the RFP and opening the exhibition.

Among the five design teams shortlisted for Stage 2A, awards were made to two teams. One was made to the team led by Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei Ltd and local landscape firm Tierra Design for the concept master plan and concept proposal for the entire stretch. Another two – for the concept designs of two special interest areas, namely the adaptive reuse of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station for 20 years and the integrated blue-green public housing development at Choa Chu Kang, was awarded to the team from MKPL Architects Pte Ltd and Turenscape International Ltd.

Faces from the winning team for the concept master plan and concept proposal.

The strength of Nikken Sekkei’s concept master plan and proposals, Lines of Life, seems not so much about big changes but interventions that many will argue is necessary to enhance the user experience and allow what really should be a community space to reach out to a wider group of users, many of whom will be from the estimated one million who live, work and go to school in the immediate vicinity of the disused rail corridor.

Viewing Nikken Sekkei’s proposals.

What seems to be a plus point for the winning proposal is that it is built around core values of Space, Nature, Time and People. This with the aim to enhance the value of the space, build on its natural environment, remember the journey of the space through time and connect the various communities who will potentially use the space. The team sees nature being enhanced through four landscape strategies: a Grassland, a Rainforest, a Garden / Urban Park and a Wetland. Platforms – with a variety of amenities provided based on one of the four modular platform sizes are suggested to serve as much needed rest and comfort stops along the 24 km route.

An example of one of 21 modular platforms that perhaps resemble railway platforms to serve as a reminder of the corridor’s history.

One of the activity nodes of Nikken Sekkei’s proposal.

The team also suggests enhancing the flavour of what it sees as eight stretches with unique characters along the 24 km corridor, something that will allow a much more varied experience of the corridor that does following the departure of the railway, have the effect of leaving one with a feeling that it is more of the same.  Along with the themes, ten activity nodes are proposed. From the graphics on display, it does seem that large scale interventions are being proposed in and around the nodes. While this doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the hope some harbour for an undisturbed, natural and easy to maintain green corridor, it does have the desired effect of enhance the value of the space to the wider community.

The eight stretches and ten activity nodes that Nikken Sekkei sees.

One of the activity nodes proposed – The Community Cave under the PIE viaduct at Mayfair Park, includes a rock climbing wall that can be repurposed in the future.

The Cultural Valley at Buona Vista with the intention to cater to the working community at One North and the residential community at Queenstown.

A look out tower over the lush landscape at Bukit Timah Fire Station – The Green Connection, seems as a hub for eco-based activities.

The Station Garden at Bukit Timah Railway Station, which leverages on its idyllic setting. Amenities such a bicycle station and a cafe are envisaged for this node.

Plus points of the winning concept also include the introduction of much needed 122 access points along the corridor. The history and heritage of the corridor, sadly already minimised by the removal of much of the railway’s paraphernalia, will not be forgotten through adaptive reuse of former railway buildings and the restoration of its existing artefacts and structures. On this note, the railway line’s two very distinctive and iconic truss bridges will be gazetted for conservation – Minister for National Development Mr Lawrence Wong also announced yesterday that the process to have the bridges conserved has commenced. The bridges, constructed for the 1932 Railway Deviation that turned the trains to the new terminal at Tanjong Pagar, elevated the railway and minimised the number of railway level crossings, have long been a feature of the Bukit Timah area and has given the area much of its character.

The truss bridge at the 9th milestone – one of two that will be gazetted for conservation.

Besides the concept master plan and concept proposals for the 24 km corridor, visitors to the exhibition will also get to have a look at MKPL’s and Turenscape’s ideas for the adaptive reuse of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Choa Chu Kang development. The proposal for Tanjong Pagar Railway Station sees it re-purposed into a multi-functional community use building for an interim 20 year period before future plans can be made in relation to the intended Greater Southern Waterfront development that will take place after the lease expires at the port in 2027.

MKPL’s and Turenscape’s vision for Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

Panels showing proposals for Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Lines of Life.

What is proposed will see art clubs, a railway gallery, exhibition space, auditorium, cafés and modular pop-up community kiosks placed along the platforms with a landscaped are in front of of the former station. Also proposed is the integration of the Circle Line’s Cantonment Station, which will be built under the platforms, with the former railway station (see also: Closing the Circle). The proposals – done up when it was thought that the portion of the platforms to be removed to allow the MRT station to be constructed had to be demolished – sees a new interpretation of the removed platform constructed and also the station exits opening up to the area where the tracks were. We do know from the joint SLA/LTA 29 October announcement that ways to reinstate the removed portions of the platforms are being looked into. What would certainly be good to also see is that the perspective provided along the platforms – among the longest along the Malayan Railway’s line to accommodate the longest mail trains and a testament to the importance of the former station, is not altered by the suggested interventions.

The platforms at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station were dimensioned to accommodate the longest mail trains and are among the longest found along the Malayan Railway’s lines – a testament to the station’s importance.

Minister for National Development , Mr Lawrence Wong viewing MKPL/ Turenscape’s winning proposal for Choa Chu Kang.

More information on the winning proposals can be found at the URA’s Rail Corridor RFP website. The proposals can also be viewed at the exhibition, which is being held at the URA Centre Atrium and runs from 9 to 28 November 2015. The master plan and design concepts, which have already incorporated many ideas from the consultation process, are not finalised proposals and there will be scope to have them be refined based on further feedback from stakeholders and the general public. This can be provided at the exhibition where one can provide feedback on forms in one of the four official languages, or online http://ura.sg/railrfp.

Feedback can be provided at the exhibition.

Feedback can also be made electronically.

Forms are provided in the four official languages.

The exhibitions will also be brought to neighbourhoods along the corridor in the first quarter of 2016, during which time feedback may also be provided, following which Stage 2B and 2C of the RFP exercise will be held, starting in the second quarter of 2016. The awarded teams will work with URA to refine the ConceptMaster Plan and Concept Proposals, taking into account the feedback received during stage 2B. A preliminary design and feasibility study for a selected four kilometre-long signature stretch of the Rail Corridor, covering the area from Bukit Timah Railway Station to Hillview Road area, will also be carried out by Nikken Sekkei in Stage 2C. This will be followed by a public exhibition of the proposals scheduled in June 2016.

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Around the exhibition

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Closing the Circle

One of the things the announcement identifying the sites of the Circle Line Stage 6 stations that will not go unnoticed is that parts of the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station’s platforms will have to be removed for the construction of Cantonment Station. This may come as a surprise to many as the former station, at which operations ceased on 30 June 2011, was gazetted as a National Monument in April of that same year. Currently unoccupied, it is the subject of a concept plan being developed under the Rail Corridor RFP, part of which seeks to identify a use in the interim prior to the development of the future Greater Southern Waterfront.

The final journey on the Malayan Railway on 30 June 2011.

The platforms of the former railway station are historically significant. They are amongst the longest found along the Malayan Railway’s lines, having been dimensioned to accommodate the longest mail trains. The platforms however, at least for the stretch that will be affected and based on the April 2011 gazette that accords the former railway station with National Monument status, have not been protected as part of the monument.

An extract of the Apr 2011 gazette showing the part of the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station protected as a National Monument.

The end of the former station’s platforms seen after its closure.

Considerations made in selecting the site of Cantonment Station (its working name) include the need to protect the National Monument from damage as well as the presence of existing structures in the vicinity such as the Keppel Viaduct to the immediate south and HDB flats to the immediate north. Construction would involve tunneling work deep under the former railway station and the excavation of part of the area where the platforms are to construct the station.

The platforms were constructed in a modular manner and LTA is looking at removing the platforms in way of the excavation site in sections and reinstating them.

The excavation work in way of the future MRT station will see sections of the platforms removed. It does seem that the intention is to dismantle the parts of the affected parts of the platforms, which were built in a modular manner, and restore and reinstate them once construction is complete. Other options that are being been considered include demolishing the platforms altogether and either reconstructing them in the same style or in a style that is in keeping with the former station’s intended use.

Work is scheduled to commence in 2017. As this will only be completed in 2025, it does mean that we will not get to see the platforms on which many memories have been made, for close to a decade.

Thinking about it, it does perhaps make perfect sense to have the new MRT station integrated into the former railway station, whatever its intended reuse in the future. While this may deviate from what had been intended in building the grand old dame, modelled some say after Helsinki Central to serve as the gateway to the oceans, it would be in keeping with its intended use as a transportation hub and serve as a fitting reminder of what once was.

Further information on Circle Line 6 can be found in the joint LTA / SLA Press Release found here.

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More of the platforms in forgotten times