When did MRT services begin?

Posted by Tan Wee Kiat under Reflections
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Thousands of Singaporeans travel on the MRT trains everyday. Not me, though. I only took the MRT 4 times a year when I had to send my car for its 5000-km maintenance service. On car-servicing day, I would drive down to the workshop at Leng Kee Road in the morning and leave my car there. I would then catch the train from Redhill Station to Yio Chu Kang Station and walk home from there. In the afternoon, I did the reverse.

Collection of National Archives of Singapore
Well, not quite the reverse.

You see in the morning I went from Redhill MRT to Yio Chu Kang MRT by way of Newton and Ang Mo Kio. In the afternoon I went from Yio Chu Kang MRT to Redhill MRT by way of Woodlands and Clementi. This way I saw more MRT stations and more of Singapore for the same price.

What a long-winded way to introduce my topic — the MRT System.You know that the abbreviation MRT* stands for Mass Rapid Transit but when did it first begin services?

Here’s the answer. The year in which the MRT began services is shown on a small piece of paper known as a First Day Cover (FDC). A FDC is basically an envelope which carries a date showing when a particular set of stamps was first issued. Here is a picture of the MRT First Day Cover.

The date on this FDC shows that the MRT started carrying passengers in 1988. Of particular interest in this FDC is the 10-cent stamp that shows the original lines, the North-South and East-West lines, when the MRT started.

I guess your next question is when did the North-East line (from Punggol to Harber Front) start services. Again another small piece of paper comes to mind. This is the FDC issued to mark the inauguration of the North-East Line. The date on the FDC shows that the NE Line began operations in 2003, just 3 years ago.(it is now Year 2006 in case you have forgotten.)

FDC 2003 here.

Of special interest in this FDC is the stamp that is marked “For Local Addresses Only”. This shows the MRT lines.

Look carefully at the North-South and East-West Lines on this stamp. What are the differences in these lines as compared to the 1988 stamp? Can you see that there is now a closed circuit (this explains how I can go from Redhill to Yio Chu Kang via Ang Mo Kio and from Yio Chu Kang to Redhill via Jurong) and an extension to Changi Airport?

Stamps and FDCs tell us a lot about the MRT and its changes. Cheem, isn’t it? And to think that some people (not my close friends, though) think that stamp-collecting is a not-cheem, childish activity.

*Footnote: When I retired a couple of years back, some close friends told me that I would have the privilege of enjoying the MRT everyday — they said MRT stands for Makan, Rehart, Teedoh. Ha! Ha!

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