SINGAPORE (Tanjong Pagar) TO KUALA LUMPUR BY RAIL: One Final Fling

So we finally got to go on my rail trip from Singapore's soon-to-be-defunct Tanjong Pagar KTM Railway Station, for a 7-hour trip to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. A trip into nostalgia was well worth the effort, never mind the crowds and niggling problems. Come 1 July, such a trip will have to begin in the sterile Woodlands Railway Station and checkpoint. It's so sterile that photos are not allowed to be taken in its premises, which is probably a good thing anyway.

The long queue for the 

8 am Ekspres Rakyat.

This is what the 1st Class (Premium) 

carriage looks like.

I could not resist taking a shot 

of Bukit Timah Plaza.

The residences of 

Choa Chu Kang / Stagmont.

The Causeway and the Straits of Johore.

Miles and miles of 

oil palm estates in Johore.

More oil palms until we reach Segamat.

A new station will soon be built in Gemas.

The capital of Negri Sembilan, Seremban.

The Moorish Mines Resort 

means we're near KL.

The familiar smog-laden skyline of 

Kuala Lumpur and KL Sentral station. 

Our rail trip was undertaken on 

Friday 17 June 2011. It was good to be back!

An afternoon in Johor Bahru

Just a crazy idea of mine to spend an afternoon with my son in Malaysia - Johor Bahru to be exact. Its just a short hop on the SBS 170 service, which crosses the Causeway and deposits you on the Johor side - for good food and inexpensive shopping!

Now is this Singapore's Orchard Road? No. its Johor Bahru's Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, with the humongous City Square shopping centre on the left. Note the HDB apartment blocks in the right background - that's Singapore's Woodlands just across the Causeway. City Square (below) is another of JB's megamalls - lots of shopping to be done.


This is the "new look" of once sleepy Johor Bahru, with lots of construction still going on. The spanking new JB Sentral railway station (below) is an impressive site and sight.

The old Johor Bahru railway station (above) is now dwarfed next to the mega-construction that goes on in the city. A juxtaposition of the new and old, of stainless steel and brick, may be appreciated in this vista (below).

Guess what? The 5.15pm train to Singapore's Tanjong Pagar station has been cancelled. The komputer sistem is still rosak (kaput), apparently on both sides of the Causeway. So its a dreary bus ride back to Singapore, with loads of shopping, and a final view of the Causeway at dusk (below).

BUYING MALAYSIAN RAIL TICKET SHOULD BE A CINCH, RIGHT?

Buying a train ticket to Kuala Lumpur should be as simple as ABC, right? Think again. All that fuss over the closing of the old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in July 2011 had got me gushing with nostalgia. For a very last fling, I had on impulse decided to take a rail trip up north to Kuala Lumpur and back, with an overnight stay to catch the Malaysian Philharmonic and meet up with old friends. The date: 17 June. The catch: tickets are only available for sale 30 days before the actual date of the trip. Here’s how easy it is to buy a ticket.

Wednesday 19 May: The gentleman in the kaunter tiket (ticket counter) booth politely informs me that ticket sales begin 30 days before the date, not 31 days. So I should come back tomorrow after 8.30am.

Thursday 20 May: The day has arrived. I come after work at 6.30pm, and find a long queue ahead of me. I wait patiently for about 15 minutes. Finally its my turn, and the lady at the counter informs me that the komputer sistem is down, and I should come back tomorrow, or buy the tickets through the Internet.

Friday 21 May: I log into the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) website, and create an account for myself. However the sistem appears to be designed for rocket scientists. No drop-down menus are to be found, and one has to fill in the exact service, time of departure (not available on the same page or anywhere easily accessible), as well as the names and passport numbers of all who are travelling. One wonders what happens should I be asked to fill in my kredit kard details? So I quit trying.

Saturday 21 May: I head to Tanjong Pagar first thing in the morning. There is no queue (!), however there’s as sign stating that the komputer system is still faulty. I suppose they are waiting for a technician from Kuala Lumpur to arrive (by rail, I imagine). That’s likely to be Monday. I console myself with a plate of mee rebus.

Monday 23 May: There's an article in The Straits Times today about the sudden surge of rail ticket sales by like-minded people who want to relive their glory rail days. So I can't possibly wait till Wednesday afternoon to get my tickets, can I? So I break early from work this morning and make that trip to Tanjong Pagar. Surely they would have gotten the komputer sistem fixed, right?

Not a chance. Its 12.45 pm and the guy (and queue jumper) in front of me is told that he should call up the main ticket call centre in Kuala Lumpur to get his ticket. So is there any chance that I can reserve and pay for the tickets today, and then collect the hard copy on another day, after the sistem has been fixed? The lady in the ticket booth looks sympathetic to my plight, and says she'll try... but later in the afternoon. That is after the 1 pm train leaves. Having expended one half-hour car park coupon, I decided to soak in the atmosphere, sip on a teh tarik, and watch those with the 1 o'clock tickets chase after the leaving train. "Those lucky blighters," thought I. There's still a long queue at the kaunter tiket, so I return home for a nap.

I return in the evening, and the lady tells me that all the komputer sistems are down, even in Kuala Lumpur. I should now e-mail the KTM Call Centre in Kuala Lumpur in order to make a reservation, which will later be printed out as tickets in Singapore once the computers get back on track. When that will be, only Allah knows. My son and I have maggi mee goreng for dinner. At this rate, I will have sampled every dish in Tanjong Pagar pretty soon.

Tuesday 24 May: So I dutifully send an e-mail to callcenter@ktmb.com.my (note the Americanised spelling), and to my pleasant surprise I get a polite reply within the same day. The lady asks for the details of all travelling but no kredit kard figures required. Phew! I will thus be given a Reservation number, with which I will be able to buy my tikets when the komputer sistem is back. Should I hold my breath?

Wednesday 25 May: YESSSS! The Call Center in KL has replied with a reservation number and my tickets have been confirmed. Meanwhile, I also get good news from my bestman Sherman who has bought my return tickets in Kuala Lumpur. So my rail holiday will finally come true, after five visits to Tanjong Pagar station and a couple of anxious nights. When I last checked, the komputer sistem is still down.

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Visit Malaysia. The time is Now? 

What about next week, next month, 

next year, next century?

Trainspotting in Bukit Timah

Come 1 July 2011, the stretch of railway between Tanjong Pagar and Woodlands will be decommissioned, thus marking the end of an era of old railways in Singapore. The old KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) railway station at Bukit Timah, where southbound trains stop to allow northbound trains to cross the single-track Bukit Timah bridge, will also cease operations. Here are some pictures to remember this sleepy little station by.

The station has been gazetted as a national monument.

The all important signal house

An old-fashioned no-frills waiting room

Where three tracks merge into one.

The train from Johore Bahru arrives

Shutterbugs come out

Welcome to Malaysia (soon to be Singapore)!

Another of Singapore's Best Kept Secrets: TANJONG PAGAR RAILWAY STATION

Come 1 July 2011, there will be no trains leaving Singapore for Peninsula Malaysia from the historic Tanjong Pagah Station as the Malayan Railway (KTM or Keretapi Tanah Melayu) lines in Singapore will be closed for good. The Tanjong Pagah terminal building had been gazetted as a national monument, and with good reason. Opened in 1929, its art deco exterior is unique in Singapore architecture, as are Rudolfo Nolli's statues, allegories of Agriculture, Commerce, Transport and Industry. My last visit to this historical building was way back in 1977, having taken an overnight express to Kuala Lumpur. This recent visit with my son brought back some old irreplaceable memories.

What will the building become after July 2011? A suggestion would be to house a Museum of Railways in Singapore, or a Museum about the good relations post independance between Singapore and her northern "Abang" (Big Brother), Malaysia. Given the prevalent tone of recent autobiographies of LKY and MM, the former is a more likely option.

Rudolfo Nolli's statues

The art deco arches

The interior with a small ticket booth (left)


Murals of daily Malayan life adorn the walls.

The Singapore-Malaysia timetable

Relics of a bygone era

Welcome to Malaysia!