Walking guide of wilderness in Singapore: The Green Corridor Walks

Cheah Ui-Hoon Business Times 18 Jun 11;

Green Corridor Walks
Along the railway track from Bukit Timah to Old Holland Road
www.greencorridor.org

IF you wanted to do a last-chance-to-do-it kind of walk, you've only this weekend (but hopefully more later) to join the Save the Green Corridor folks on their railway track hikes before the Tanjung Pagar railway station closes. The Malayan railway services packs up on June 30 after about 80 years on the island republic and, sadly, the tracks which have helped preserve a contiguous stretch of green woodlands in Singapore will be taken out from July 1 onwards.

Which means that the vegetation will soon grow and swallow up all vestiges and imprints of the former railway tracks, such that in a month or two it'll be as if Singapore never had a railway running through its centre for almost a century.

Singapore isn't just losing its Tanjung Pagar tracks, but also its Jurong Line which had long since been disused, but which provided a good walking guide into the woodlands between Teban Gardens and Sunset Way and had often been used by groups like the Singapore Adventurer's Club.

The Nature Society of Singapore (NSS) had put in a proposal for the government to preserve 40km and over 170ha of Malayan Railway land as a Green Corridor, and from the start of this month, has been holding weekly weekend walks to lots of interested folks along the railway tracks.

One of the easiest walks to do is between Bukit Timah Road (King Albert Park) to Old Holland Road for that 2- to 3-km stretch of railway. On the second Saturday of June, the walk was also timed to catch the Northbound and Southbound trains trundling along the tracks between 8 and 11am.

NSS member Margie Hall guided the walk and, knowing that this is a nostalgic walk more than anything else, allowed plenty of time for shutterbugs to record practically every metre of the trek. She also took the opportunity to explain the nature of first and secondary forests in the woodlands and to point out the birds that we could hear and see along the way. Despite it being muggy, this is one of the loveliest nature walks to do in Singapore - thanks to its 'wilderness' nature, given that much of the greens along the railway track are just natural forest.

Given its pending closure, the KTM railway tracks have probably never seen so much pedestrian activity in its 70-plus history in Singapore, all crammed into the space of one month. The railway masters have had a busy time entertaining queries from curious walkers, and shooing photographers as well as posers off the tracks - not to mention wedding couples - when there's a train approaching. Walkers should be cautious of the risks of walking along a 'live' railway track (you can't always hear the approaching trains, seasoned walkers warn) and also be cognisant of the fact that you're walking on Malaysian land.

For walks this weekend and possible future walks, go to www.greencorridor.org .