Last Train Out of Singapore - Tanjung Pagar






The governments of the two nearby nations of Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to terminate, by mid-2011, the

historical rail service from Tanjung Pagar in downtown Singapore to Johor Baru, capital city of Johor State on the Malaysian Peninsular. This railway line has been etched in the memories of many, for those who came from British Malaya to find their fortunes in the island of Singapore; of those who went through the harrowing and challenging days of Japanese-occupied World War 2; for countless backpackers in the seventies and eighties of the last century; and to many foreigner tourists for which this stretch of the journey heralded the start of the Oriental Express to Bangkok. Amongst all these individuals are the forebears of many who hailed from or migrated to and settled in Australia and New Zealand in the past thirty years. Many war veterans of these two Antipodean countries knew this railway well as young blokes - on the dark side, it was their commencement of the trip to the intern camps maintained by the Imperial Japanese Army along the River Kwai in Thailand.








The colonial symbol of transport (above) sculptured on one for the four pillars at the entrance to the Tanjung Pagar rail station on the southern end of Singapore Island.

















The ticketing counter of the Tanjung Pagar Station (below) has been maintained by Malaysian staff of the KTM, the government body that currently runs the railway network on the Malaysian Peninsular - and successor to the Malayan Railways under British colonial rule before 1957. The station has high ceilings, white-wash facades and has an ambiance not changed since the 1960s. It is kept spotlessly clean like the starched garb of officials who came from England and Scotland to serve the Empire.

















Food outlets at Tanjung Pagar (literally meaning the Hedged Cape) include

Indian inspired rotis, freshly made through the twirling of the dough on a hot plate (below), a fascinating start to the Oriental Express adventure up north to Thailand.

































A train passenger gets through Singapore immigration and heads towards the train platform.

The train journey north to the Malaysian border hardly requires an hour.

Comments

Charmaine said…
Hope the history of this place will be preserved in some museum. I have fond memories of travelling to Spore from KL on a night train sleeping in the berths with curtains drawn across for privacy. It was my first girlie trip with friends after finishing SPM in Form 5.
26 February 2011 at 20:51
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