I wasn't intending to pay a visit to the Green Corridor (which refers more to a campaign to retain the railway land that was returned to Singapore in 2011) but i needed to catch a bus back to Yishun anyway and thought it would not die to forgo less than a hour to check out one small section.
By small, i am thinking of just the stretch from one end of the railway bridge to the other. You could probably gauge the distance from the above photo; obviously short even by tortoise standard.
Access is no longer covered by tall grass; go to the end of rail mall and enter in the direction of the bold red arrow i have so kindly provided.
At least this is more or less a proper footpath where you would not have to fear that a snake would slither out from nowhere! I was in the vicinity a few years ago and the nasty thought of being bitten by a snake, was sufficient to steer me away from the path.
For those who are unaware of Singapore's railway history, this is merely a dirt path leading to the Bukit Timah Railway Station. In actual fact, the trail was covered by metal tracks that had since been removed by KTM as part of the agreement with Singapore.
The side that's my focus of exploration that day; there's a certain indescribable charm when it comes to historical railway bridges and it's great to see that the tracks are still there!
Before electricity and the airplanes came into play, having a railway across the country was a certain way to bring along prosperity and development and likewise for the little red dot, it would have made a significant contribution to Singapore's economy.
Bringing kids? Do ensure to keep a watchful eye, especially those classified under the same category as my niece and nephew; a wrong step and it's a fall of more than 4.5 meters.
In order to preserve its facade, there's no proper railing! Even the metal perimeter wiring kept to act as a fence was rusty and wobbly.
Scaredy cats who are afraid of heights may consider walking in the middle of the bridge. Unlike the abandoned track at Sunset Way (which is now barricaded up), you are on solid concrete ground.
View of the other side of the bridge.
Put it this way, you may survive a fall of 4.5 meters but you would likely die from being ran over by a motor vehicle!
Continuing my way; two ladies were having a picnic! Surprisingly, when i was googling for the railway bridge, i chanced upon a recent article of an accident where a couple was hit by a train when the railway was still operational. According to the news article then, the exact spot where the couple was killed should be the location where the two ladies were.
Bet many of people have forgotten about the news; i did remember reading about the article then but there's only so much the government can do since the land theoretically belonged to Malaysia then.
Would you term the markings as vandalism? The property wasn't damaged or destroyed per se although the handwriting was as ugly as mine.
I would have gladly ended my walk and proceed to take the path as above; i didn't as on one hand, i figured there's a chance i might fall. On the other hand, i am still keen to wander further!
Since i have to travel along this road to get to my workplace in Clementi, i am quite familiar with the surrounding and guess it would not take long for me to get to the other juncture where there's another bus stop.
Most importantly, the pathway was wide enough and i would be able to spot a sleeping snake from a distance! My phobia for snakes can be so unreasonable!
Back view - i had company; definitely reassuring since i didn't arrange for a friend to join me that day. I always prefer to have company when i explore, just in case something happens.
Came to an end in less than five minutes; in the past, there was an overhead railway track that would connect the two sections. I was expecting something was put in place to ensure that the corridor is "unbroken".
Damn, it's the same situation here and i am not going to risk my brittle bones by exiting via the above route! Worse off is the reality that if i don't stop in time, it would be a direct hit on ongoing traffic!
Praying hard that this would be much more manageable.
Thank god!
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Location
Next to Rail Mall