I Walk The Line

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About The Line

Up until 2011, Malaysia's national rail service (KTM) operated a train service into Singapore on a line that stretched the north-south axis of Singapore from the Singapore-Malaysia border in the north to the city center in the south. KTM also owned the land on which the line was built. In 2011, the train service started terminating at the northern end of Singapore. The land was returned to Singapore, and it is in the process of being preserved as a green corridor. I understand that the track was about 24km long.

My parents downsized to their condo that same year. Their condo's location is awesome - it is right next to Singapore's nature reserve, and I have enjoyed many hikes in the area every time I return to visit. Their condo is also close to the halfway mark of the old KTM line. This time round, I decided to walk the line. I headed north on the first day and south on the second day.

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Northward Bound

Starting out early one cool-ish (for Singapore) July morning, I accessed the line near Rail Mall and headed northwards. Before long, I was at a cast iron bridge over Upper Bukit Timah Road, and soon after that was my first distance marker of this trek - the 13km marker. This first part of my trek wound through private housing estates, then past some military installations, and then through Bukit Panjang, a public housing estate. This took us to the 16km distance marker. From the 16km marker, the landscape gradually became more industrial. Throughout the entire trek, Upper Bukit Timah Road (which turns into Woodlands Road) was on my right most of the way. Although I was physically surrounded by greenery most of the way, traffic and construction noise was ever present. Highlights en route included a kingfisher perched on the 16km marker, an iguana, lots of butterflies, and a Hindu temple.

The trail appeared to end at Sungei Kadut not long after the 21km marker, which was quite close to the northern tip of Singapore. This was where I wanted to end my hike on the KTM track, as the Kranji War Cemetery was close by. Kranji War Cemetery is the final resting place for 4,400 servicemen and servicewomen from World War II and it is a very sobering place to visit. 850 of the deceased were not identified and their gravestones were marked with a cross and the words "Known only to God". The defense of Singapore in World War II was a multinational effort and the names of the deceased gave proof of that; buried there were servicepersons from units from Singapore, Malaysia, Great Britain, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Numbers-wise, the Australian and Indian regiments seemed to have more casualties.

My total distance walked this morning was 8.1 miles. I took a little over 3 hours to complete it, including the time I spent wandering the cemetery grounds. My route can be viewed here (ignore the last 0.06 miles represented by the straight line; I forgot to save the workout before stepping onto the bus). After visiting the cemetary, I took a bus back to my parents' condo.



Here is some useful information if you wish to walk northwards on the railway line:


• The line isn't always contiguous. It appears as if a couple of bridges were dismantled, and the surface crossings obviously don't exist anymore. There are a few spots where trekkers have to cross roads and even scramble up and down slopes where bridges used to be.
• Between the 15km and 16km markers is Junction 10 Mall. After crossing the road before Junction 10, do not proceed along the obvious remains of the track, as a canal cuts through it. I had to backtrack and walk along the other side of Junction 10 before rejoining the track after the canal.
• At Rail Mall, one can make a short diversion to the Singapore Granite Quarry, where there is a pretty lake where a quarry used to be.

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Southward Bound

Early the next morning, I went back to where I started the previous day's hike and headed south. As this part of the hike was on the flank of the nature reserve, it was green and very pleasant. I hit my first distance marker - 10km - soon after. I loved this stretch - it was all greenery with some houses interspersed. Along the way, I walked on two bridges. The first bridge spanned Hindhede Road, which is the entrance to Bukit Timah Hill. The second spanned the busy throughfares of Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road. Once past the second bridge, it got even quieter and greener as the trail veered away from the roads. The main highlight of this stretch was an abandoned railway station.

Alas, this was not meant to last. Soon after the old station, I saw a wall, and the sign on it indicated that a water pipeline was being built. The trail initially continued alongside the wall, but at Old Holland Road, I could not find any further trace of a trail. A passerby told me that the trail ended here for now while the pipeline work was ongoing. She suggested taking a bus to Alexandria Road and rejoining the track from there, but I decided to call it a day as that last bit of trail wound through urban areas and I wasn't keen to take a bus just to walk a city path. So, I turned around, found a parallel path on an abandoned road, and headed back to Bukit Timah Road where I took a bus back to my parents' condo.

Total distance walked this morning was 4.74 miles. The end of the trail was at the 3.3 mile mark and the remaining 1.4 miles was backtracking to Bukit Timah Road. Feel free to view the workout here .

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Photos

Northward Bound
Much of the trail looked like this. The track itself has been dismantled except in a few spots.

Northward Bound
Cast iron bridge near Rail Mall.

Northward Bound
My route as captured by Map My Run.

Northward Bound
Kranji War Cemetary

Southward Bound
My Map My Run workout summary.

Northward Bound
These boots are made for walking.

Northward Bound
Cast iron bridge near Rail Mall.

Northward Bound
Ummm, was this meant for hikers and cyclists?

Northward Bound
Dismantled bridge near Dairy Farm Road. I had to scramble down and then up to rejoin the track.

Northward Bound
Hindu Temple.

Northward Bound
My first distance marker on the northbound trek.

Northward Bound
Bukit Panjang Light Railway

Northward Bound
Kingfisher

Northward Bound
These stones seem to mark where the track once went through a level crossing.

Northward Bound
Stream in the middle of an industrial area.

Northward Bound
MRT North-South line

Northward Bound
Kranji War Cemetary

Northward Bound
Kranji War Cemetary. Unknown soldier. These were the most difficult graves to look at.

Northward Bound
Kranji War Cemetary

Northward Bound
Kranji War Cemetary

Southward Bound
Early morning light.

Comments

[RENanDREW]

Insider knowledge
What a lovely way to see a part of Singapore that most tourists would probably not even know existed. At the risk of making myself hungry, what Singaporean dishes have you been seeking out since you returned?

[Siewch]

Food glorious food....
Greetings from Indonesia. I have had: roti prata, hokkien noodle, char kway teow, various peranakan dishes (that's half of my heritage), northern Indian (butter chicken, saag paneer, aloo gobi), laksa, and, of course, Mum's cooking. I had Haines chicken rice on my flight to Bali. I'm still craving a few dishes, but I will be in Singapore three more times in the next two months. I'm going to Oz late Aug, but I'll mostly be in Adelaide. Sorry, had to give Tassie a miss. Three months seems like a lot of time but it really isn't.....