Another Visit to the Bukit Timah Railway Station
By CK Ng, 19 Jun 2011.
After attending the Green Corridor walk to the Bukit Timah Railway Station last week, I decided to get Gilbert as well as another couple of friends to go there to shoot again. I also wanted to get a few shots of the token exchange process, a practice still performed here but will be history once the railway line and land is handed back to the Singapore government come 1 July 2011.
We arranged to meet at 7am at the McDonald’s at King Albert’s Park, but I was disappointed when I woke up to find it raining. After some hesitation, we decided to go ahead as the rain was getting lighter, and by the time we started, there was no more rain. Thankfully we did not give up and go back to bed!
I missed shooting some of the signboards leading up to the station the last time round, so I took them on this trip.
Bukit Timah Railway Station Signboard Read more
Parts of KTM railway to be retained
By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 23 Jul 2011.
Some sections of the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway tracks will be retained, the Nature Society and other heritage interest groups said yesterday.
They emerged from a meeting with government agencies to report that sections of the track at the now-defunct Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Timah railway stations, and those on two steel bridges at Dunearn Road and the Rail Mall, will be kept under existing plans to conserve the stations.
The civic society groups did not, however, have information on the length of these conserved sections. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) confirmed the information following the meeting the groups had with Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin and representatives from the Ministry of National Development and its associated agencies.
Source: The Straits Times via Wildsingapore
Hundreds flock to Bukit Timah Railway Station to reminisce
By Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia, 2 Jul 2011.
Some 200 people flocked to the Bukit Timah Railway station on Saturday to reminisce Singapore’s railway past. This, on the first weekend after Singapore took over all railway land south of Woodlands, following a land swop deal with Malaysia.
The Bukit Timah railway station was a hive of activity. Everything there – even the toilet – became a photo opportunity.
Singaporeans and tourists alike – were there to reminisce.
“Now the land belongs back to us again. So it’s something for us to remember. And we never had the opportunity to walk before,” said one of the people there.
The Nature Society of Singapore also organised a four-hour trek for some thirty people.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
The Green Corridor walk along Bukit Timah [19 Jun]
Sunday, June 19, 8am – 11am, Old Holland Road to Hindhede Road.
Join us for this leisure walk along the railway from Old Holland Road to Bukit Timah Railway Station to Hindhede Road (slightly over 3km). Jerome Lim, the author of the excellent and popular blog, The Long and Winding Road, will lead this walk. Check out his heritage stories and photos at http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/.
You would see these along the way:
– Road bridge over railway line at Old Holland Road
– Culvert
– Jurong Line branch-off
– Bukit Timah Station
– Truss Bridge
– Girder Bridge
Meeting Time: 8am
Meeting point: Ulu Pandan Road Bus Stop ID 12039 (Opposite Pandan Valley Condo). See map at http://gothere.sg/maps#q:bus%20stop%2012039.
Public transport: Bus numbers 75, 165 (if coming from direction of Holland Road stop at Bus Stop 12031 – Pandan Valley Condo)
Register through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121452561274259.
If you’re not a Facebook user, just indicate your interest in the comments section below, and turn up on that day.
The Green Corridor walk along Bukit Timah [11 Jun]
Saturday, June 11, 8am – 10am, Bukit Timah Railway Station to Old Holland Road.
Join us for this leisure walk along the railway from Bukit Timah Railway Station to Old Holland Road. Ms Margie Hall from the Nature Society (Singapore) will lead this walk.
We would pass by the Bukit Timah Railway Station, which has been gazetted as a conserved building on 27 May 2011. Built in the 1930s, the Bukit Timah Station is an endearing local landmark and a key building of our railway history. We would also pass by an area of significant secondary growth forest, refer to as Clementi Woodlands.
Meeting time: 8am
Meeting point: Outside Cold Storage, McDonald’s Place at King Albert Park (see map at http://gothere.sg/maps#q:king%20albert%20park%20mcdonalds).
Register through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=229330997080165.
If you’re not a Facebook user, just indicate your interest in the comments section below, and turn up on that day.
bukit timah railway station
By Stephanie, 17 May 2011.
The recent news about the closure of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station has created quite a stir amongst many Singaporeans, netizens and budding photographers who wanted to visit both the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and Bukit Timah Railway Station (now functioning as a passing loop railway station between Tanjong Pagar and Woodlands) before operation ceases for good (with effective 1st July 2011). That is just less than 2 months away! This was a cause of concern for many heritage and nature lovers who were afraid that the government might demolish the stations for commercial development. As we all know, land is extremely scarce in Singapore and any available prime land (especially at Bukit Timah) is most likely to be snapped immediately either to build another expensive condominium or a retail mall. Well, money talks. Click here to read about a proposal, proposed by The Green Corridor, to turn the stations, along with its railway tracks, into an eco-tourism attraction. Thumbs up! 
Fortunately, the government has assured us that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station will be gazetted as a National Monument under the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) as it sees the importance of having to preserve a place that had played such a significant role in our transportation history. In addition, the Bukit Timah Railway Station will also be gazetted as a conserved building under the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). In its proposal, The Green Corridor has suggested turning the station and parts of its rail tracks into a locomotive museum, something which I honestly think is a fantastic idea as I’ve been very impressed by the few train museums that I had visited overseas. Read more
Different routes for two railway stations?
By S Ramesh and Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Apr 09, 2011.
One could become the centrepiece of the glitzy redevelopment of the Tanjong Pagar area, while the other, an endearing local landmark in Bukit Timah, will stand as a piece of Singapore’s transport history.
The Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) is gazetting the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (TPRS) as a national monument, while the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is gazetting the Bukit Timah Railway Station (BTRS) as a conserved building.
This, in view of “their deep historical significance, and to protect physical reminders of our rich heritage”, according to a joint statement from the PMB and URA released on Friday.
Source: Today Online
Historic railway stations to be kept for future generations
In view of their deep historical significance and to protect physical reminders of our rich heritage, the Singapore government will be keeping both the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Bukit Timah Railway Station. The Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) is gazetting the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as a National Monument, while the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is gazetting the Bukit Timah Railway Station as a conserved building.
At their Retreat on 24 May 2010, the Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia announced in their Joint Statement that the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) station would be relocated from Tanjong Pagar to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) by 1 July 2011. Both Leaders also agreed that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Passenger Terminal building would be conserved given its historical significance and the old Bukit Timah Railway Station building at Blackmore Drive could also be conserved.
With the relocation of KTMB station from Tanjong Pagar to WTCP by 1 July 2011, both the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the Bukit Timah Railway Station will then cease to operate as KTMB railway facilities. Read more
There I go again … another journey through Tanjong Pagar
By Jerome Lim, 11 March 2011.
I guess I have not had enough of it, despite probably having tens of, if not a couple of hundred journeys out of Tanjong Pagar. I did it once again, since proclaiming that that journey taken with some friends at the end of last year would possibly have been my last. Having had a mixed bag of experiences on the many journeys through the arches of the grand old station, the ones that probably I remember most of are the regular delays that one comes to expect on the far from reliable train service that KTMB operates. Part of the reason for this, some of the archaic infrastructure and practices still in use on the old railway, does perhaps lend itself to an experience that you would certainly not get on the efficient railways that criss-cross much of the European continent – one that seems out of place in the ultra modern and efficient world we have grown accustomed to in Singapore.
I will certainly miss taking train journeys out of Tanjong Pagar … something that will perhaps motivate me to take a few more over the next few months before the station closes.
Stepping into the station itself would somehow take you back in time, the atmosphere being one which seems more at home in the Singapore of the 1960s and 1970s. The large airy concourse that greets the visitor is adorned with mosaic murals that speak of a style that was prevalent of a time we have left behind and depict scenes from the Malayan peninsula that would have been more common in that era. Over the years that I had have an awareness of the layout of the concourse, nothing much has changed except perhaps that the occupants of some of the spaces, and an invasion of a Tourism Malaysia hut in the middle of it. It is in one of the spaces along the concourse that some nice food can be found and to perhaps add a old world flavour to the station, you would find food vendors that would be more comfortable conversing in Bahasa Melayu, once a common language on the streets. Read more
