Ex-Malayan Railway, Singapore to Malaysia (and beyond). July 2016
Ex-colleague from Japan days, Bill Purver, loved to point out that when Singapore split from Malaysia, there was the issue of the British-built railway to contend with. At the time the countries broke up, that train link was still important. Who owned it? Finally, it was decided that KTMB (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad) - Malaysia State Railways - would own and operate it in its entirety. That meant that Singapore had a pencil line of Malaysian territory slicing through it to the old Tanjong Pagar Station (also owned by KTMB). In the old Tanjong Pagar Station, passengers traveling northbound passed through immigration for Malaysia before getting on the train because they were already technically IN Malaysia. What an odd set up.
As Malaysia and Singapore developed at breakneck speed, the old railway was rendered less and less relevant. At first, buses became faster after the first highway was built between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and then when private car ownership started to gain popularity, the buses even seemed slow. The train was snail-like in its trip from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (and onward). Meanwhile in Singapore, that land (especially Tanjong Pagar Station) was becoming more and more valuable.
Finally, the Malaysian and Singaporean governments agreed that the new terminus to the railway would be at the Johor Bahru Causeway (Woodlands, Singapore side). This meant train travel to Kuala Lumpur was 99% in Malaysia with the final stop in Singapore being customs and immigration on the northern edge of the island. The old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was declared a protected national monument in Singapore and is being developed as a public space with a new MRT station. The actual rail line was converted into a walking/bicycling path that connects downtown Singapore with the extreme north of the island. The old railway right of way is tree-lined and overgrown, hence the name "The Green Corridor".
I regret that I never took the International Express that used to run from Tanjong Pagar, Singapore to Hua Lamphong, Bangkok. Truth be told, the journey was just too long and I had already covered the distance multiple times by road. Now I look back and wish I had done it just for the experience. At least, I got to walk a stretch of the Green Corridor. The most amazing part of the experience was that in tropical Southeast Asia land untended immediately reverts to jungle. Except for the rail bed (which I believe will eventually be properly surfaced for walkers and bikers) the right of way to the left and right was already lushly overgrown. The Green Corridor name was not oversold - it was a jungle walk right through urban Singapore literally a few meters away.
I applaud Singapore's foresight turning that very valuable sliver of land into something for the public. In a way, it is a walk through Singapore and Malaysia's history. If that isn't important to those traveling its now rail-less path, then the Green Corridor is just a lovely walk through a canopy of trees in a densely populated city.
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