30 June 2011

It has been 10 years since the last train pulled out of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station on the night of 30 June 2011, ending a 108-year era of rail in Singapore.

Thereafter, the southern terminus of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) West Coast Railway Line was moved from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands, at the northern edge of Singapore Island. KTM trains no longer ran across the width of the city-state.

Ten years on, most of the railway tracks in Singapore are gone, and the former KTM land is now the Rail Corridor. To commemorate 10 years since 30 June 2011, I unearthed some photos I took with a cheap camera on that historic night.

The beautiful exterior of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

The station staff were celebrities that night. This guy posed for photographs like a star.

What was left of the canteen.

I wonder what became of this man.

Waiting for the last train out. I had a good view because I was standing on a chair I had taken from the canteen. That chair was my best friend that night. I later decided to put this photo in my book, Jalan Singapura.

It was like a carnival. Everyone was excited and in great spirits. We all knew we were part of a historic moment.

After the last train left at around 11pm, the crowd spilled onto the tracks.

We were free to walk all around the place, including the immigration and customs areas. The staff did not care, because their job here in Tanjong Pagar was done.

I love this sign - the font, the colours, the Malay name.

People were in no hurry to head home that night.

The interior of the station building, with its murals. I’m glad this building is conserved.

The former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station will be integrated with the future Cantonment MRT Station of the Circle Line Stage 6, which will open in 2026. I can’t wait to be back inside the historic building to relieve the magical night of 30 June 2011.

Changing fortunes in transport

One challenge I faced when I was working on my book Jalan Singapura was covering Singapore’s recent transport history - the period from 2011 to the time of writing, which was 2019 (final edits to the manuscript were made in April). The local transport scene was evolving at lightning speed. Facts and statistics had to be updated every few weeks.

Good examples were electric scooters (e-scooters) and electric bicycles (e-bikes). As I was finalising my manuscript, the former had taken over the island’s pavements and walkways. Its low prices, ease of riding, and lack of regulatory framework to oversee its use, saw population numbers surging to at least 40,000. I made sure to draw parallels between its careless introduction and that of other modes of transport throughout Singapore’s modern history.

Credit: TODAY.

Within a few months after publication, the e-scooter population had further grown to 100,000. Then, on 5 November that year, after a spate of accidents, mostly between e-scooters and pedestrians, the Transport Ministry abruptly banned e-scooters and other personal mobility devices (PMDs) from footpaths.

In a flash, the Era of E-scooters had ended as soon as it had begun.

Fast forward 19 months, and the Republic’s registered e-scooter population had plunged to just 6,671 as of end-May 2021 - a precipitous decline of 93 per cent.

PMDs are still allowed on cycling paths and park connector networks, but the infrastructure is still too inadequate to encourage widespread use.

Instead, many have switched to bicycles - or e-bikes. Boosting their numbers is increased demand from food delivery riders, as food delivery services have grown in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Credit: The New Paper.

E-bikes had to be registered from 2018. At the time, there were around 13,000 of them; last May, there were 15,800; this had doubled to 31,660 by the end of this May.

Just as growth in the e-scooter fleet in previous years had led to a rise in e-scooter accidents, the same is happening to the e-bike fleet.

In 2019, there were 24 accidents and no fatalities involving the two-wheelers; the following year, there were 75 accidents and three deaths. Still nothing compared to motor vehicular casualties, but worth keeping an eye on.

From 30 June, it became mandatory for e-scooter and e-bike riders to pass an online theory test on rules and safe riding practices.

This requirement is too lax though. At least a practical test is needed. Even then, just as many motorists throw out what they’ve learned in driving school the moment they get their licence, the same will happen to e-scooter and e-bike riders too.

Ultimately, like motorists, e-scooters and e-bikes need more infrastructure in the form of Channels of Movement - preferably dedicated paths - coupled with a stricter regulatory framework with strong enforcement to ensure law-breakers suffer deterrent punishments. This was an argument I had put forth in Jalan Singapura, and two years on, it hasn’t changed.

When a new mode of transport is introduced, the infrastructure to give it the space it needs, and the regulatory framework to keep its users on the straight and narrow, must be in place first. Otherwise - to use a transport analogy - it’s putting the cart before the horse.

In the transport scene, fortunes can rise and fall in a flash, but some principles are timeless.

A white rock yields treasures

In 2008, the International Court of Justice ruled that the island of Pedra Branca (“White Rock” in Portuguese) belonged to Singapore, not Malaysia, ending a 29-year-old territorial dispute between the two neighbours over the rocky outcrop known to sailors for centuries as a hazardous landmark for ships.

A reminder of how far Pedra Branca is from the rest of Singapore and its islands - it is 44 kilometres out in the South China Sea.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

Now, Singapore’s legal victory has paid rich dividends... in the arena of heritage.

Two shipwrecks have been excavated from the waters surrounding Pedra Branca. The first was discovered in 2016, about 100 metres northwest of the island. The second, that of India-built merchant vessel Shah Munchah, which sank in 1796, was uncovered in 2019, 300 metres east of the island. Both carried Chinese ceramics as their primary cargo; the former had artefacts dating to the 14th century, the latter, artefacts dating to the late 18th century.

What a find!

Locations of the two shipwrecks. Credit: The Straits Times.

From the shipwrecks: Yuan Dynasty-era blue-and-white porcelain. Credit: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

More blue-and-white porcelain. Credit: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Longquan celadon dishes, which have a green glaze. Credit: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Artefacts include (clockwise from top left) a glass bottle stopper, a betel nut cutter, copper-alloy beads, agate medallions, a bronze mortar, glass beads, a copper-alloy bracelet, and a gold tag with Armenian script. Credit: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Figurines include those of (from left) a Chinese couple, a dog, and a Qingbai figurine of a horse with a rider wearing a scholar’s headgear. Credit: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

There have been archaeological finds in Singapore dating as far back as the 14th century, but they all have been on land, in places such as Fort Canning Hill, the Padang, and Empress Place. The two ships are a first for Singapore’s waters (and hopefully not the last).

The 14th-century wreck will add a tremendous amount to knowledge of 14th-century Singapore, and both wrecks will add to the maritime history of Singapore in the 14th and 18th centuries, periods falling outside that of “modern” Singapore (1819 to the present). I can only imagine how excited maritime history researchers must be feeling right now!

Looking forward to further discoveries in the waters around Singapore’s newest piece of territory, and to seeing the priceless artefacts go on display in our museums very soon.