Singapore Rail Corridor: The former railway line that’s now a walking path

The Singapore Rail Corridor (formerly the Green Corridor) is a walking path and nature reserve along the old Singapore railway line. This is a guide for walking the Rail Corridor, including where to see the best sections.

Index

About the old Singapore railway
Singapore Rail Corridor map
Walking the Singapore Rail Corridor
North
Central
South
News and future updates

About the old Singapore railway

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were once connected by a direct railway, which ran from Tanjong Pagar near Downtown Singapore to Kuala Lumpur Station. The railway was closed in 2011, and the service was replaced with a cross-border shuttle service.

[Tanjong Pagar railway station.]

While there once was a railway in Singapore, it was never Singapore’s railway. The land and tracks were owned by Malaysian Railways KTM, and Malaysia had partial sovereignty over this land (which was a sticking point for Singapore). After a land-swap deal the railway reserve was returned as Singapore land.

There is a plan for a new high-speed railway that will connect KL to Singapore, but the terminal station will be in Jurong East. Thus the 24km railway reserve that runs north to south across the country will never again be used as a railway.

Personally I would have preferred to still have a railway station closer to the city centre, but at least Singapore have made good use of the land. The rail corridor is now a national park, and it has become one of the world’s most iconic urban nature walks.

Singapore Rail Corridor map

This is a map of the Rail Corridor, and it includes the most convenient MRT stations and other nearby landmarks.

[Map of Singapore Rail Corridor]

Walking the Singapore Rail Corridor

In 2023 the northern section of the Rail Corridor from Kranji MRT station to Hillview MRT station opened. This new section now allows visitors to walk almost the entire length of the old railway corridor.

I have walked different sections of the rail corridor before, but I wanted to walk the entire length as a challenge. I reserved a day to walk the length of the rail corridor.

The corridor is divided into three sections: North, Central, and South. This guide breaks down the highlights of each section.

North

The most logical direction to walk is from North to South. I got the metro to Kranji MRT station to began my walk. There is a path opposite the station but I missed that and I started at the entrance near the big Woodlands Road Interchange.

[North entrance of Rail Corridor.]

I didn’t really prepare for this walk apart from slathering up with sunscreen and buying a big bottle of water at the supermarket at Kranji MRT. If there was one thing I would have done differently, I would have started walking at 7.30 am instead of 9.30 am. It took an hour by metro to go from Central Singapore to Kranji, so include that travel time in your planning.

I estimated that it would take me about 5 hours to walk the corridor, which turned out to be accurate. It took me 5 and a half hours, with a 30 minute lunch break and a couple of toilet breaks. It’s a long walk if you are not used to the heat, so you can always bail out to a nearby MRT if you can’t continue.

The path itself is a nice walking track that varies from compacted gravel, concrete, and paved road. You will not be jumping over old sleepers or railways (apart from a few sections later on).

If walking isn’t your thing, you can also cycle the corridor. I’m not sure how they police the speed limit.

The website says that it is a 24 km track, but where I started at Kranji it said it was 21 km from the end. The 24 km appeared to refer to Woodlands at the very end, which was not open for walking.

[20.8 km to Tanjong Pagar.]

I appreciated that there were so many distance posts along the way. It helped me push on, and it stopped me looking at my phone so much to check the map.

[19.9 km mark – under 20 kilometres to go!]

The walking path is connected to other parks and points of interests along the way. I was tempted to stray off the path on these side quests, but every diversion would be more metres that would add to the days walking budget.

[To Kranji War Memorial.]

There are plenty of entry/exit points if you want to start or finish at another point.

[HBD Choa Chu Kang.]

The main drawback of the northern section is that there are some roads that interrupt the walking path. I didn’t fully appreciate how nice it was to walk uninterrupted until I walked the entire length.

[First road crossing at Sungei Kadut Ave.]

They are not big roads but they still break up the walking rhythm.

[Road crossing at Stagmont Ring.]

The road crossing at Choa Chu Kang Rd is near Junction 10 Mall. I’ve marked this on the map as a good place for an air-conditioned toilet break that’s not too far off course.

The last road crossing is at Gombak Drive. The government is continually upgrading this path, so I suspect that eventually it will be a continual path with no road crossings.

[Rail Corridor at Gombak Dr.]

There may still be some parts of the path that are diverted due to infrastructure work, and these disruptions are mentioned on the offical website.

Central

The Central section of the corridor begins near Hillview MRT. The Central section has the most interesting sites of the corridor, so I would start here if you don’t want to do the entire walk.

Hillview MRT is near the Hillview Bridge

From the Hillview Bridge it’s another 13.6 km to the end of the walk at Tanjong Pagar.

[Singapore Rail Corridor 13.6 km marker]

The Central section uncludes the Upper Bukit Timah Truss Bridge.

[Upper Bukit Timah Truss Bridge.]

This is an original rail bridge, and it’s one of the few places where the railway has been left on the track.

[Metre gauge railway track.]

No danger of oncoming trains here.

Near the Upper Bukit Timah Truss Bridge the The Rail Mall shopping strip. There are some cafes here if you want a break.

[Starbucks at The Rail Mall.]

For my metrically-challenged friends, you can take a break at the 9 Mile Platform.

[9 Mile Platform on the Rail Corridor.]

After walking parts of the northern sections that had no tree coverage, some of the central section is a lush tropical jungle.

I was also impressed with the clean water tricking along the path.

There are signs that warn about wild boars, but I didn’t see any. I saw plenty of big lizards, and I imagined that I heard a thousand snakes. There is also plenty of birdlife, which were too swift to be captured by my phone camera.

The thought of snakes kept me walking briskly through this jungle section, though I stopped to smell these giant flowers.

There is another railway bridge at the Hindhede Crossing.

[Old KTM Railway Bridge Hindhede Crossing.]

I was nearly tempted off course by the Rifle Range Nature Park, but this will have to be incorporated into a another walk.

I saw more walkers along this section than anywhere else. I also saw some cyclists on bikeshare bikes, and I was wondering if there were any nearby.

On some stretches of walking path I would remind myself that a train used to go through here.

[Singapore Rail Corridor along Rifle Range Rd.]

Another great remnant of the railway is the Bukit Timar Truss Bridge.

[Bukit Timar Truss Bridge.]

Near the bridge is the Bukit Timah Yard Shelter.

[Bukit Timah Yard Shelter.]

There is a toilet block here and a water fountain with chilled drinking water (you can drink from the tap in Singapore), so this is a good spot to resupply water.

This rest station is next to the Bukit Timar Railway Station. The old station and the tracks have been preserved here.

Bukit Timar marks the halfway point of the old railway. It was at this point, midway in the island, that trains could pass each other.

If you are walking the entire length then you are about halfway there. This is the most interesting historical relic of the railway, so take a break here if you want to see some rail sites.

Bukit Timar Station is near King Albert Park MRT Station on the Downtown Line. If you are pressed for time (or if walking for 5 hours in tropical heat doesn’t sound like a fun day out), then I would just walk the section from Hillview MRT to King Albert Park MRT.

South

After leaving Bukit Timar Station the metre markers are into the single digit kilometres and you are now in the southern section of the corridor,

[Singapore Rail Corridor 9.78 km point.]

I saw this new rest stop that had no cover, and it occured to me that there were few places along the walk where you could take cover. It was midday by now and this stop didn’t look appealing. I was lucky in that it didn’t rain on the day of my walk.

The most urbanised section is at Buona Vista. There is a new office park near the path, and new trees have been planted. I was thinking that this would be a nice place to work. I was then concerned that these fantasies of working were being induced by heat stroke, so I pushed on to complete the walk.

This section at Buona Vista had the most sensible rest stop on the path, so hopefully there are more stops like this added in the future.

Buona Vista is the last opportunity to get an MRT, in case you are feeling like you’ve had enough walking.

One of my favourite buildings in Singapore is The Interlace. This can be seen from the corridor around the 3.9 km mark.

[The Interlace viewed from the Rail Corridor.]

If you are going ot take a detour at any point, I would recommend exiting at Alexandra Road to continue along the Southern Ridges Walk.

[Singapore Rail Corridor Alexandra Road exit.]

Some sections of the last few kilometres loses its canopy cover. It was around here that I was regretting starting at 9.30 and not 7.30.

I noticed a lot of wild chickens on this walk, and I saw wild chickens in urban areas as well. Perhaps someone had kept domestic chickens years ago, and these are the descendants of chickens that escaped from the coop.

Another landmark that’s visible from the corridor is Avenue South Residence. These twin towers are the world’s tallest prefabricated skyscrapers.

Near the end of the corridor is the KTM Railway building.

At the end of the corridor is the old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

There is currently construction around Tanjong Pagar Railway Station so it’s not possible to end this epic walk by walking into the station. Cantonment MRT Station (CC31) on the Circle Line (CCL) Stage 6 is being built under Tanjong Pagar.

[Cantonment MRT Station under Tanjong Pagar.]

Once this is finished, the Rail Corridor will have an MRT station at the end of the walk. For now, the closest MRT station is at Tanjong Pagar on the East-West Line.

If you still want to travel by train between the two cities here is my guide on how to get from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by train.

News and future updates

Rail Corridor’s Buona Vista node now open; ideas sought for former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station – [22/04/24]
“Users of the Rail Corridor can now enjoy facilities such as fitness areas, a playground and an open lawn at a community node in Buona Vista.”

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to undergo restoration, completion expected by 2026 – [29/08/22]

Old Singapore railway line to become new park – [16/02/16]
“Named the Rail Corridor, the new park would stretch across almost the entire length of Singapore. It would be one of the world’s largest linear greenways.”

[Image by nikken.jp.]