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Nan Chiau High School (2014 CyberFair Project ID 7723)
Singapore,
Singapore
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 6. Historical Landmarks
We estimate 8 student(s) from 12 to 13 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: Singapore is a small city-state nation having an area of 752 square kilometres. In fact, we are ranked the 44th smallest nation in the world. The population of Singapore is about 4.5 million. Singapore is a multiracial country made of mainly 4 ethnic groups. They are the Chinese (76%), Malays (13%), Indians (9%) and the Eurasians (1%).
As late as 2011, the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malayan Railway) track ran from the north-western portion of Singapore (Woodlands) to the Southern part of Singapore (Tanjong Pager), it looked like an umbilical cord linking Singapore to Peninsular Malaysia. 27 km long of railway track, belonging to Malaysia, was in the heart of Singapore Island, symbolically dividing the Island state into 1/3 in the West and 2/3 in the East. In a narrow strip of land of less than 10 m wide which was just enough for diesel-driven locomotives to pass through, there were train signal men who pulled up and let down hand-operated gantries to stop motor traffic on road from crossing the railway track when the trains were crossing. Although only about 5 trains per day, the blocking of road traffic and the occasional sounding of the train horns were notoriously disruptive. It did not help when the morning train from Northern Malaysia passed some crossings in Singapore at dawn. What is the distance from Singapore city centre to Malaysia? Interestingly, it was not 28 km, but less than 2 km. Before 1998, when both Malaysia and Singapore CIQ (Custom, Immigration and Quarantine) were still operational in Tanjong Pager railway station, passengers on board trains coming from Malaysia while waiting to clear the Malaysia and Singapore CIQ in Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, were considered to be legally in Malaysia. No passports checked, no customs clearing when they crossed the border at Woodlands earlier and entered Singapore island, travelling in Singapore land for 27 km to Tanjong Pager Railway Station. This interesting fact, entering the territory of another country without immigration and custom clearing was unique in Singapore. What caused this awkward arrangement? Both governments were keen to resolve this unusual arrangement, how did they do it?
Project Description: The project is about rail corridor; it describes firstly, the historical landmark of the parcel of land, 27 km long where the former KTM lay. There are sections which describe the defunct Tanjong Pager Railway Station, Bukit Timah Railway Station and history of this railway track.
The project also briefly describes the timeline of rail transport in Malaya (currently Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) and the establishment and the cessation of KTM in Singapore. It covers the historical reasons behind the present issues and how the leaders of both nations finally came to an agreement to resolve the issues once and for all.
Last but not least, the project touches on how the future use of this uninterrupted strip of land in Singapore, known popularly as the rail corridor, where the former KTM railway track lay, is going to be used. It describes how members of the public contributed to the ideas of maximising the usage of this useful piece of land.