Problog

The idea of "taking the train home" dates back over a decade. Not sure quite when it materialised but even then the idea of" home" as being somewhere in England was rather tenuous. But it would need much longer than my usual holidays would allow so it remained a pipe dream until I made the decision to retire. At one stage I toyed with the idea of splashing out on the Eastern and Oriental Express for the first part but that

proved to be impractical as well as expensive. In my mind the journey would begin at the old Tanjong Pagar railway station with its rather faded elegance. Had even planned to take the No 10 bus from home in Pasir Panjang to the station. But this being Singapore nothing stays the same for long and even dreams have to be brought up to date. In 2011 Tanjong Pagar station was closed along with the railway running through Singapore so my journey would likely start from the less than romantically named Woodlands Train Checkpoint. The old railway through Singapore provided a unique view of the island city state, a view dominated by rural greenery rather than the concrete jungle seen from the roads. Although not many Singaporeans used the railway there was a great outpouring of nostalgia when it was closing and the station was packed as watched the Sultan of Johor drive the last train out. Later we watched the station master close his office and then they locked the doors.

The Station at Tanjong Pagar

All aboard the last train out of Tanjong Pagar

And then it was closed

 Thanks largely to public pressure the rail track was opened up to the public and along with many others I walked along the track over three weekends, Buona Vista to Rail Mall, Buona Vista to Tanjong Pagar and lastly Rail Mall to Woodland. That was back in 2011 with all the tracks still in place,. except for being ripped up at Woodlands,  presumably to stop any train taken over by terrorists being able to invade Singapore.

A few weeks after the railway closed

Cut to 2014 and all the tracks have been removed except for a symbolic stretch at the old Bukit Timah station and the stretches over the bridges. Are they afraid that if they remove the tracks, the bridges will collapse?

Thanks again to public pressure, the route now dubbed the "green corridor" remains

open for walking and in the last couple of months in anticipation of turning my pipe

dream into reality I have re walked the stretches from Tanjong Pagar to Buona Vista

and Buona Vista to Rail Mall. Hoped to complete the last section from Rail Mall to

Woodlands before I left but in the end ran out of time.

The Green Corridor three years on

Surprisingly quiet even at the weekend