With all the hype over the Singapore-Malaysian Railway, and the impending closure of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, and also it’s preservation as a national monument, how much do you know about the railway station itself?
As regular readers would know, Jerome has been closely following the closure of the railway station and taking many nostalgic trips through it. He blogs about a recent tour run by the Preservation of Monuments Board on the station:
The station we were told by Rosanne, was built to provide a grand station that was to be the terminal of what the British had envisaged as a intercontinental transport network that was to span from Singapore at the southern tip of the Asian continent to the British Isles. The choice of the location close to the docks at Tanjong Pagar signaled the ambitious extent of the British Empire’s intent in expanding transport and communication links between the British Isles with Asia and further afield, with Singapore’s strategic location being seen as the gateway (by sea) to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Designed by Swan and MacLaren, the station is thought to have been designed after Helsinki’s Central Station and sharing elements with Washington D. C.’s Union Station. The style of architecture, Art Deco, that was selected was one that it was felt combined both Western and Eastern elements and influences.
You can read about the rest of tour and learn more surprising facts about the station here.
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