Jurong Line: Is this Goodbye?

By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.

It was close to 20 years ago when the last train went down the tracks of the Jurong Line of the KTM Malayan Railway in Singapore. These tracks, which run from the Jurong Industrial park to Bukit Timah, has since been dismantled in part, but mostly left abandoned.

In May 2010, news that Tanjong Pagar Train Station, the only remaining train station part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network that still functions in Singapore, was going to move north to Woodlands broke out. The KTM Malayan Railway has for years brought people and goods from Malaysia to Singapore and vice versa. Since then, there has been speculation as to what would happen to these railway tracks – both the line that runs from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands, and the Jurong Line.

I took a walk down the Jurong Line, two Sundays ago, and to my dismay, work on removing these tracks had already started.

I had began my walk from Penjuru Road, near the Teban Gardens estate in Jurong, and was wondering why I could not spot any semblance of the tracks – I was even starting to think that I was not going down the right path. Read more

Jurong Line: A Photo Guide

By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.

Want to walk the Jurong Line, the abandoned railway that is part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network and not quite sure how to? Here’s a photo guide that will show you how:
View KTM Malayan Railway Lines in Singapore in a larger map

From Penjuru Road to the Tunnel, along the Teban Gardens Estate

Entering the path from Penjuru Road, you will likely to be greeted by a dirt path. The dirt path that you see here is caused by some machinery that has already started digging up the tracks around this area. A stream, or perhaps you might refer to it as a drain, runs along the side of this path. On the opposite side of this stream lie some kampung (villages). Read more

Jurong Line: Kampung Life Along The Tracks

By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.

Over the years, several enclaves developed by the side of the Jurong Line, part of the KTM Malayan Railway Network. These enclaves, termed as kampung (“village” in the Malay language) for the way it resembles – rural, simple, just like a village would look -, consist of small plantations, temples and sometimes even makeshift houses.

It seems, however, as if no one actually live in these kampung, but are instead “owned” and maintained by the residents who live in the neighbouring blocks.

In perpetually developing Singapore, it is inevitable that old things and places will give way to the new. Yet, I’m fairly certain that these kampung were very likely only “built” after the train tracks were abandoned, meaning that they are each less than 20 years old. In light of the fact that most kampung in Singapore were eradicated some 40 odd years ago, these little bits of village life almost appear like an anachronism, inconsistent with today’s life in Singapore. Read more