"Go for green corridor"
"THE potential release of land owned by the Malayan Railway (KTM) presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a beautiful cycling, hiking and nature trail linking the north and south of Singapore."A new life for Tanjong Pagar Station," The Straits Times Forum page, 03 Jun 2010.
This would be a boon for the increasingly health- and environment-conscious population seeking spaces for cycling, jogging and hiking, and help them appreciate the nature spots.
The KTM corridor is an unobstructed, traffic-free and flat path. It presents both a non-motorised transport option as well as a recreational opportunity.
Traffic-separating infrastructure - bridges, cuttings and tunnels - already exists, lowering the cost of conversion considerably as opposed to construction from scratch.
The converted path could easily be linked to the existing Park Connector Networks (PCNs) in the north, west and south of Singapore.
For example, it would be possible to link it with the Woodlands Waterfront and the Northern Explorer PCN, the Labrador Nature and Coastal Walk and the popular Southern Ridges Walk.
The new path would also immediately link the north, north-western and western towns with the biotechnology hub of one-north, the future arts-and- culture hub in Tanjong Pagar and the financial district, providing a safe and convenient commute for people living in these areas."
Thomas R. Keeble
'How perfectly fitting for this historic transport hub to function as a terminus for green cyclists wishing to park their bikes and enter the city centre on foot.'
THE Malayan Railway's right-of-way contains some lovely islands of tranquillity in Singapore's otherwise urban landscape. They should be cherished. The right-of- way can be converted into a leafy ribbon park running from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands, with a bikeway for convenient access to the city from the north.
Bike lock-up and pay-shower/locker facilities could be built into the conservation plans of the Tanjong Pagar Station. How perfectly fitting for this historic transport hub to function as a terminus for green cyclists wishing to park their bikes and enter the city centre on foot. It could be developed as a hiking/walking/ cycling emporium, a 'Velopolis'.
And please, preserve the lovely cottage-like station in Bukit Timah as a midway resting point offering refreshments.
The ribbon park and Velopolis could be named after Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, to honour his visionary reforestation campaigns that are among his greatest legacies to this city state.
Wayne Mitchell
2 comments:
Amusing and instructive to see how the ST edits it's forum letters. I stupidly assumed the terrible standard of English was due to the contributers. Now I know it's the sub editors mangling others' words. So much for 'speak good English'. ;)
The original text is below:
"The potential release of Malayan Railway Lands presents a significant once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a beautiful cycling, hiking and nature trail linking the north and south of Singapore. This would be a boon for Singapore's increasingly health and environment-conscious population seeking spaces for cycling, jogging, hiking and appreciation of the remaining natural areas.
The KTM corridor is an unobstructed, traffic-free and flat path running from the north to the south of Singapore. It presents both a non-motorised transport option as well as a recreational opportunity. It follows a relatively straight line path. Traffic-separating infrastructure (bridges, cuttings and tunnels) already exists, lowering the cost of conversion considerably as opposed to de novo construction of such a trail.
The converted path could easily be linked to the excellent existing Park Connector Networks (PCNs) in the north, west and south of Singapore. For example, it would be possible to link it with the Woodlands Waterfront and the Northern Explorer PCN, the Labrador Nature and Coastal Walk, and the popular Southern Ridges Walk.
The new path would also immediately link the north, north-western and western towns with the biotechnology hub of One North, the future Art and Ideas hub of Tanjong Pagar and on to the financial district, providing a safe and convenient commute for people living in these districts.
In summary then, converting the Malayan Rail Line to a leisure and commuting corridor would seem to perfectly align with Singapore's goals for the future."
Note that last sentence.
It would be wonderful if this gets implemented and I would definitely do anything to see this happen. However, I doubt that this will see the light of day :(
I'd like to see the North linked up nicely to the west and down to the south this way.
Now, is something being done to fix the north <> east link? Then we'd have a great world class network where peds and bipeds (and trikes) can move without worry from their 4 wheeled foes.
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