Ulu Pandan Heritage Trail (9) – The Lost Railway Line: Part 1 (by Peter Chan)

In the previous article, Chun See told you about the disused railway line across the Sungei Ulu Pandan. This line was actually part of what was called the Bukit Timah Siding. As the name implies, it was actually an extension of the main Malayan Railway Line which went from Tanjong Pagar to Peninsula Malaya. It was connected to the main railway line near the Bukit Timah Station. After crossing S. Ulu Pandan, it continued all the way to Jurong. Hence it was called the Jurong Line.

According to the 1960 Malayan Railway Berhad Annual Report, the Jurong Line was built by and the project funding came from the company itself and not the Singapore Government. The only reason for the existence of the Jurong Line was purely economics. When Singapore was a part of Malaysia, it was envisaged that Singapore was to be the heavy industrial hub of Malaysia through the Jurong Industrial Estate. At the same time, a small number of Malaysian companies producing essential commodities like sugar were to be relocated to Singapore. In order to obtain the raw materials for the Jurong heavy industries; the steel was required by the Jurong Shipyard from Prai, and not to clog up the Woodlands and Bukit Timah roads a railway track that ran-off the main Malayan Railway line was built. Historically much of Peninsular Malaya’s (and the future Malaysia) natural commodities such as rubber and tin were routed through the port of Singapore at Tanjong Pagar. So creating an extension from the main railway line was not all that difficult. Is this a surprise? Not really because when I worked for a large US MNC in the mid-1980s, I found that many of Malaysia's IT requirements from Europe and the US were re-exported from Singapore.

Today, I will describe for you the section near Clementi. Next time, I will describe the Western section.

Picture 1: Bukit Timah Siding

I used to travel the stretch of Clementi Road and Bukit Timah Road very often. Around 1960 or 1961, I saw huge excavators digging at the spot where Lorong Gaung used to be. The space next to Lorong Gaung finally became a deep valley which is now the tunnel under Clementi Road.

After Singapore separated from Malaysia, I found military trucks using a narrow dirt track (passable to only one vehicle at a time) running above the valley. The dirt track was Lorong Gaung which connected the Old Maju Camp with Clementi Road. Maju Camp was a People’s Defense Force Camp which trained volunteers for the army in the days before National Service was introduced in 1967. It was scary to see the 3-tonners getting stuck halfway up the muddy steep dirt-track and men pushing the vehicle forward. When the vehicle finally could get started, you could see the rising black exhaust smoke.

Picture 2: Map of Clementi Road area from 1981 street directory showing location of Lorong Gaung off Clementi Road. Notice that there was an Old Clementi Road at the lower part of the map. Notice also a Singapore Boys' Home and a Ngee Ann Technical College further up.

This is a recent photo of the railway bridge over Sunset Way.

Picture 3: PDF soldiers coming out of Maju Camp to main Clementi Road. This place is directly opposite the future Corona Florist nursery.

Today there are some small evidences that the valley and dirt track did exist.

Picture 4: Old entrance to Maju Camp marked by road block pillars.

At the same time, I saw the building of the railway bridge across the S. Ulu Pandan. There was a small dirt track to the left of and before the Sunset Way railway bridge. This dirt track lead to a British Army Camp called Colombo Camp. I used to see British military tanks doing their maneuvers in the area across the S. Ulu Pandan.

Photo 5: Down in the valley, the old railway track is still visible to the eye

How come I knew so much? Well we had our family outings to Clementi Park when it was first offered for sale by City Developments Ltd in the early 1960s. My 98 year old grand-uncle, who still lives at Sunset Drive, briefed the rest of the family members about his new bungalow. As for me, I was not interested in those adult conversations and was more tempted to watch the railway bridge under construction.

Coincidentally the S. Ulu Pandan railway bridge has a uncanny resemblance to a bridge in the movie, “Bridge On The River Kwai”, especially during sunset and when there are no HDB estates around it. Close your eyes, you can hear “Colonel Bogey” whistled by the POWs.

Recommended Read: Icemoon's follow-up to this article; Old tracks, New Trail: The bridge over the River U. Pandan.