Breaking the link – cutting and removing the KTM railway line
By N. Sivasothi, 22 Jul 2011.
A symbolic scene greeted me on my field trip yesterday morning. The Malaysian (Keretapi Tanah Melayu or KTM) railway I crossed each time I ventured into Mandai mangroves since 1987 has been cut. The fastening clips have been removed and collected in canvas bags along the railway.
All this steel will be returned to Malaysia.
Preparation for removal of the KTM rail, near Mandai Besar 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
Railway tracks a huge draw
By Daryl Chin and Sia Ling Xin, The Straits Times, 3 Jul 2011.
It was a scene Singapore has never witnessed: Scores of people strolling along the railway tracks that run from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar.
Yesterday, a day after the authorities announced that it would allow the public access to most of the 26km track for two weeks, hundreds of people turned up at different sections of the route throughout the day.
The Nature Society (Singapore) led an organised walk, with about 60 of its members trekking 6km from Bukit Timah to Ten Mile Junction.
Mr Leong Kwok Peng, vice-president of the society, said: ‘I think the turnout is fantastic. You can easily see hundreds of people milling around the area when you look down both ends of the tracks.’
Source: The Straits Times via Wildsingapore
Explore old rail tracks? You can during this month
By Jamie Ee Wen Wei, The Straits Times, 2 Jul 2011.
TANJONG Pagar Railway Station may be closed and work to remove the tracks is under way, but it is not the end of the road yet for railway buffs.
In response to requests from the public, the entire line of railway tracks will be open to the public from now until July 17, except for a few areas.
After July 17, a 3km stretch of tracks from Rifle Range Road to The Rail Mall will continue to be open until July 31.
A joint statement from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday noted that as agreed with Malaysia, Singapore will remove the tracks and ancillary structures of the KTM railway and hand them over to Malaysia.
The SLA will start these removal works as well as do maintenance works shortly.
Source: The Straits Times via Wildsingapore
Public works and future plans for former railway land [Press Releases]
By Singapore Land Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1 Jul 2011.
The lands previously occupied by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) for railway use have been vested in the Singapore Government with effect from 1 July 2011.
As agreed with Malaysia, Singapore will remove the tracks and ancillary structures of the KTM railway and hand them over to Malaysia. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will commence these removal works as well as conduct maintenance works around the various railway sites shortly.
Public Can Access the Railway Tracks
Nevertheless, in response to requests for an opportunity for the public to trek along and experience the tracks, the SLA will be staging its works. From 1 Jul 2011 to 17 Jul 2011, the entire line of railway tracks will be open to public for 2 weeks, except for some localised areas.
After 17 Jul 2011, a 3km stretch of railway tracks from Rifle Range Road to the Rail Mall will continue to be open to the public till 31 Jul 2011. Read more
Not scrap metal, but a bridge to the past
Letter to TODAY by Liew Kai Khiun, 22 Jun 2011.
For the past fortnight, along with Singaporeans from all walks of life, I have been joining the walks along the Malayan Railway tracks organised by the “We support the Green Corridor” group, comprising conservationists and nature experts who are promoting awareness of the need to conserve the line between Tanjong Pagar and Woodlands as a green lung, after it ceases operation at the end of the month.
Aside from the stretches of lush greenery along the train line, many visitors have been tremendously fascinated by the engineering structures. These include the levers in the control room of the Bukit Timah Station, the train tracks and the cast-iron Truss bridges on Dunearn Road and Railway Mall on the main line, and the smaller counterparts at Sungei Ulu Pandan and Sunset Way along the defunct Jurong-Bukit Timah line.
Source: TODAY
The Green Corridor: Wildlife, Alive and Dead, along the Tracks
By Daphne, 25 Apr 2011.
Warning: The following post includes gruesome photos of dead animals, which may cause discomfort to some readers.
Long tail macaques. Monitor Lizards. The rare pangolin. The common changeable lizard. Various species of snakes.
Long tail macaques are a common sight at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, of which the railway tracks pass near to the entrance of.
These are but a few animals that can be found along the section of the KTM railway tracks that run from the Bukit Timah Railway Station up till the road next to the soon-to-be-converted-into-a-condomium Ten Mile Junction.
Unfortunately, some of these animals may have fallen victim to “road-killâ€, or rather “track-kill†by passing trains. Read more
Jurong Line: Digging Up A Bit of My Childhood
By Daphne, 22 Feb 2011.
It’s 5pm in the evening and I’m standing by the window watching the sky turn an incandescent red. It’s my favourite time of the day to simply soak in the beautiful sights of the sun as it sets over the horizon.
From a distance, I hear a whirr that gets louder and louder as it approaches – it is the cargo train that passes by behind my house twice a day, every day. There is something most therapeutic about watching the train as it whizzes by, just like on any other day.
This was about 20 years ago.
Section of Railway track the author is referring to | Photo credit: Reclaimland.sg
Sometime in the 1990s, the actual date of which I’m not very clear of, the trains stopped running. The train tracks were left abandoned, unused, forgotten by most people, save for the ones who have once seen and heard those trains chugging down the tracks. And now, in 2011, trees have grown directly on the train tracks, up to 3 metres high, obscuring most parts of the metal rails that still line the grassland. These train tracks, lie there, forever only part of a memory; my memory. Read more
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
