KTM Station at Tanjong Pagar

The KTM trains creates a nostalgic feeling to me...reminding me the days of old, when during the term breaks in my early years in the National University of Singapore, when sometimes I would return to my hometown of Penang by train, or see Kin off when she returns to KL for the holidays.

They call the trains express...but still it took some 13 hours to travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, a journey of approximately 380km...so it was really not an express service...these days...and even those days, the TGV would speed across France at 300kph - at which it would take no more than 2 hours to do the same journey the KTM diesels would need almost a day for. The Shinkanshen in Japan would run at about 240kph, and more recently I had been on the Shanghai MagLev train, where I saw it clock 450kph.

Outside, the gargoyles are not as menacing as those in some European buildings...but rather nice looking statues.



And within the station, the lobby where one buys the tickets...these were traditional train tickets made of thick cardboard...about 1mm thick, and about the size of a bus ticket of old.



The former arrivals immigration and checkpoint is now a coffee shop:



And a food court, featuring the Ali Nacha biryani...reputed to be one of the best in Singapore:



The stationm showing the tracks, and the bumper to prevent the train from crashing into the lobby:



Quiet now...waiting for return to Singapore...I wonder what the government will do with this space...I hope they keep the facade, and perhaps have a quaint hotel or tastefully done shops.