Jurong railway station

The Jurong Railway Station was a freight railway station that was co-owned by JTC Corporation, one of Singapore's primary industry-based developers, and Keretapi Tanah Melayu (the KTM), the national railroad company of Malaysia.

History

In the 1960s, when the Singapore government decided that the area of Jurong was to be the site for Singapore's second port (after that at Tanjong Pagar) and a new industrial estate, it was realized that most of Jurong lacked proper roads and related infrastructure (as the area was, at that time, largely undeveloped and was regarded as a rural district). Therefore, an agreement was made with Malaysia to extend a railroad line (from the Bukit Timah Railway Station on the main KTM-operated railroad line between Malaysia and the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station near the city-centre of Singapore) towards the newly-established industrial estate and Jurong Port.

The construction of the Jurong Railway Station and the so-called "Jurong Line" (the name for the new railway line for freight transport) started in 1963 and was completed in 1965 amidst much public fanfare, even though the railway line was not intended to be catered for passenger-based train services. Despite the significant investment in the establishment of the "Jurong Line" with its relevant infrastructure and the general notion that it would play an important role in serving Jurong's industrial estate and the port through freight-based railroad transportation, there was not much true worth in the "Jurong Line" (only a few industrial operators based in the surrounding area made use of the railway line for its original (and sole) purpose of transporting freight; these included the Sugar Industries of Singapore (SIS) Ltd., Asia Cement (Malaysia) Ltd., the Pan Malaysian Cement Works Ltd. and an unknown oil storage company). Thus, throughout the entire duration of its existence, the activity level of the "Jurong Line" was quite low.

Eventually, as bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia became particularly strained over the years since 1965 (especially so after the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia in that same year), and with more and more good roads being built that lead to Jurong Port, the neighbouring industrial estate and the petro-chemical industrial complex on Jurong Island, freight-based railway services on the "Jurong Line" were finally terminated in the early part of 1993, with the Jurong Railway Station building being demolished shortly afterwards (the station's concrete signboard was only removed in 2012, together with the remnants of the railroad tracks still lying at the station), save for the remainder of the railway tracks and some remaining railroad signalling equipment (including warning signs and signal lights).

Remnants

Not much is left of the former railway line, which, unlike the main north-south railway line from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar, is largely forgotten and unknown to most Singaporeans. The only major reminder of the now-defunct "Jurong Line" is in the form of a large steel truss bridge that spans Sungei Ulu Pandan, which is a particularly distinctive landmark in Clementi (note that access to the bridge has been blocked due to safety hazards). Apart from the now-rusting bridge, there are also the partial remains of the railroad tracks at certain stretches on the former path of the "Jurong Line" (these can be found along Shipyard Road from Tanjong Kling Road and between Clementi and Ulu Pandan (near Sunset Way)) and at least three train tunnels and more than four railway bridges (these are all less grand than the giant truss bridge at Clementi), with the rest of the railroad tracks being pulled up due to ongoing land redevelopment or clearing up for new development-based land in the future.