I’m very glad to join all of you this morning. Exactly 11 years ago today, the former railway land where we now stand was returned to Singapore, giving us an extraordinary opportunity to reimagine how to best make use of this uninterrupted 24-kilometre-long stretch of land, all the way from Woodlands in the north to Tanjong Pagar in the south. 

Since then, we’ve been working extensively over the many years with Singaporeans from all walks of life, to carefully plan and enhance the Rail Corridor, into a place that everybody can enjoy. And I recall in one of the early sessions after I joined MND, I went with a group of stakeholders; and as we visited different parts of the Rail Corridor, some of them reminded us – how would people on wheelchairs with accessibility issues get on the Rail Corridor, and other groups also shared their concerns. We had another session, and a group of seniors said “I can enjoy the Rail Corridor, but many seniors, and also families and young people, along the way, nature will call, even though we are in the midst of nature, and therefore, can you extend our range by having stops along the way.” We received lots of useful feedback. 

Now, at the higher level, the Rail Corridor was planned with a three-way balance in mind. First, preserving the Rail Corridor as a continuous green artery – from north to south, and community space for users of all ages and abilities. Second, we also wanted to celebrate the heritage along the Rail Corridor – yes, it’s for nature, for community, for sports, for people to enjoy, but also, celebrating heritage, and we do so by conserving, restoring and repurposing key railway buildings and elements – including the focus of today’s event, which is the Bukit Timah Railway Station. And the third, making sure that parcels of land adjacent to the Rail Corridor are developed to meet Singaporeans’ needs for homes, jobs and amenities.

Today, we witness another significant milestone, with the reopening of the historic Bukit Timah Railway Station, a new community node along the Rail Corridor.

On this occasion, we are all very glad that we have with us today Mr Vijayaragavan, who was the Station Master for Bukit Timah in the early 1980s, and his son, Rama, who in fact works at the Land Transport Authority, making it three generations of railway men, including Rama’s grandfather. Welcome, father and son. I hope that the reopened railway station will bring back many fond memories for you and your family. Before we stepped into this space, father and son were showing us old photographs – very lovingly kept over many decades, of Mr Vijayaragavan in a very smart station master uniform with a bit of a swagger, with style, holding the phone, calling important people, and without his permission, no train moved. 

Restoring and enhancing the Bukit Timah Railway Station site

Built in 1932, the Bukit Taimah Railway Station was a hub of activity, serving as a passenger and freight station for residents, and notably, as an unloading point for racehorses on their way to the nearby Bukit Timah Race Course. 

We engaged members of the public on how we could showcase the heritage of the station, and collaborated with students from SUTD on an in-depth study of the site, in order to shape the restoration plans for this Railway Station. 

We have now conserved its two buildings and ensured that they are safe and accessible for everyone while retaining their nostalgic charm. Firstly, we carefully restored the Railway Station building, along with the original platform and tracks, into a heritage gallery. In the Signal Room, we kept the six original levers, which were used by the former Station Masters to control track switching and signalling for the trains that passed. Second, we repurposed the Railway Staff Quarters building into a café, where visitors can rest and recharge. I understand that Mr Vijayaragavan’s family had in fact lived in the Staff Quarters, when Rama was growing up. I hope that as your family visits this new café, it will evoke a sense of nostalgia for the times you had spent here together listening to those trains go by, and playing a part in the history of Singapore. 

We have also added new gardens to enhance the character of the Bukit Timah Railway Station. The Kampung Garden highlights iconic ornamental shrubs and flowers that were commonly found in Singapore’s kampungs in the 1960s, such as Hibiscus, Peacock Flower and Jasmine, while the Herb and Spice Garden contains plants like Siamese Ginger, Laksa Leaf and Chili Padi, that were commonly used for cooking back then – and even today. Night lighting will be kept to a minimum, so as not to disturb nocturnal animals that will use the Rail Corridor. 

In addition, the station will be equipped with new amenities, such as barrier-free access ramps around the site for visitors of all ages and abilities, a new terraced seating area, flanked by two public lawns, and new educational signs around the compound, on the history of this area. Now, so that is Bukit Timah Railway Station.

Making the Rail Corridor accessible, safe, and enjoyable

Let me now update on some plans in the works along the Rail Corridor, which you can look forward to in the coming years. We will open the enhanced trail between Hillview and Kranji by the end of this year. And by 2023, there will be new access paths, shelters and restrooms along this trail too. By mid-2023, we will have a new pedestrian bridge across Hillview Road, for a seamless connection between Rail Mall and Hillview Road. We will add access paths along this section of the Rail Corridor, and an observation deck with a view of Bukit Timah Hill. In addition, we will introduce two new access points to the Rail Corridor. The first is the 9 Mile Platform, located between Rail Mall and the Upper Bukit Timah truss bridge, which will be completed by the end of this year. The second is the Buona Vista community node at one-north business park, which will be completed by end-2023. It will be integrated with an upcoming mixed-use biomedical sciences development in that area. 

Last month, as part of URA’s Long-Term Plan Review, we unveiled the Rail Corridor as one of five Identity Corridors in what we call our Heritage and Identity Structure Plan. What this means is that we will plan the entire 24-kilometre length of the Rail Corridor with an intent to preserve its unique character. For instance, we will employ urban design strategies to guide future developments along this Corridor. This ensures that visitors can enjoy an uninterrupted view of greenery throughout the Corridor, without tall buildings looming over them, where we can. We will also continue to enliven places along the Corridor. For example, we will explore transforming the public space underneath the Queensway viaduct into a sheltered community space. 

Moving forward together

In all these efforts, we will continue to work with the community, to realise the Rail Corridor’s full potential in many dimensions. For instance, earlier this year, participants from NParks’ Youth Stewards for Nature programme, or YSN, they helped us conduct biodiversity surveys to monitor species diversity in the Rail Corridor. The data has helped us learn more about the rich biodiversity in our midst, and how we can better formulate conservation strategies. We will share the survey results on the NParks website and incorporating the information into educational signs along the Rail Corridor. We are also working with student volunteers from the National University of Singapore’s Environmental Studies programme, to create an interactive online map of Rail Corridor (Central), named “Colours of our Wildlife @ Rail Corridor”. The map will include information on key access points and fun facts about the built heritage and native plants that users can explore along the trail. We will launch the map by September this year. 

The Rail Corridor has historical roots – it was a transport node; now, it’s a Rail Corridor for people, and also a corridor for nature. To strengthen ecological connectivity, as part of our OneMillionTrees movement, we will continue to work with the community in the forest restoration efforts at the Rail Corridor. 

On this note, I’m happy to share that in commemoration of the opening of the Bukit Timah Railway Station, NParks has partnered friends from SingPost to launch a stamp issue today, showcasing the Rail Corridor. The series features iconic landmarks, such as the Bukit Timah Railway Station and Bukit Timah truss bridge, as well as the flora and fauna of the Rail Corridor. 

The Rail Corridor that we enjoy today, is actually the result of collaborations with many community partners over the past decade. In fact, just a few days ago, the Friends of the Rail Corridor had our 7th meeting – it was a long and detailed discussion, with different people pitching in with their perspective and their understanding of nature, heritage and community, and everyone coming together with good ideas. I would like to thank all of them, including our Friends of Rail Corridor group, Singapore Heritage Society, Heritage and Identity Partnership, and our youth volunteers and community volunteers, for their passion and dedication to this joint endeavour. 

All of us look forward to our continued partnership, as we keep enhancing this special corridor for all to enjoy, within our City in Nature.  

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy exploring the Bukit Timah Railway Station today.