page_title: Rail transport in Singapore
section_title: Post-war developments, 1950s-1995
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Singapore / History / Post-war developments, 1950s-1995
caption_attribution_description: A recreation of the old Singapore MRT System Map, showing the MRT network in 1989-1996, before the Woodlands Extension opened. File by Calvin Teo December 2005
context_page_description: Rail transport in Singapore mainly consists of a passenger urban rail transit system spanning the entire city-state: a rapid transit system collectively known as the Mass Rapid Transit system operated by the two biggest public transport operators SMRT Trains and SBS Transit, as well as several Light Rail Transit rubber-tyred automated guideway transit lines also operated by both companies. In addition, local specialised light rail lines are in operation in places such as the Singapore Changi Airport and Sentosa.
  A short remaining section of the railway originally built during the British colonial period is connected to the Malaysian rail network, and is operated by Malaysian railway company Keretapi Tanah Melayu. The Singapore section of the railway now serves only inter-city passenger services; until 2011 the railway also carried freight between Malaysia and the Port of Singapore at Tanjong Pagar. Two other international rail connections are currently planned: the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail and the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System.
context_section_description: By the time the Second World War ended in 1945, the FMSR was still operating six stations along the line: Tanjong Pagar, Tanglin Halt, Bukit Timah, Bukit Panjang, Kranji and Woodlands. In 1946, the FMSR closed Tanglin Halt, Bukit Panjang and Kranji to allow for faster travel between Woodlands and Tanjong Pagar. Meanwhile, FMSR was renamed as Malayan Railways in 1948 after the formation of the Federation of Malaya; in 1962 it was renamed again as Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM).
  In 1953, a proposal was made to convert the existing Malayan Railway line into a double-tracked electrified light rail transit system to resolve the congestion problem; diesel railcars could be used should this not be economic. Nothing materialised out of the proposal however. When STC bus drivers went on strike in 1956, a local supplementary train service had to be provided by the Malayan Railways to provide relief for commuters affected by the strike.
  In 1961 the Singapore Harbour Board had 16 miles of tracks in its 950-acre site, which were connected to the main line west of Tanjong Pagar station. By the 1970s it had been renamed to the Port of Singapore Authority and owned a number of diesel shunters.
  Following full internal self-governance of Singapore in 1959, the new government under the People's Action Party pursued an aggressive industrialisation policy to resolve unemployment problems, one of which included building Jurong Industrial Estate in 1960. Keen on tapping the economic hinterland of Malaya, a freight-only Jurong Line was built in 1963 and was opened in 1965. Trains would run west from Bukit Timah under Clementi Road, through Ulu Pandan, under a roundabout at Upper Ayer Rajah Road and Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim and branched out into three lines that penetrated into Jurong Industrial Estate. Despite high expectations of having 2-3 million tons of good moved every year, a shaky merger with Malaysia from 1963 to 1965 led to under-utilisation of the line's potential. The Jurong Line eventually closed in the 1990s despite renewed calls from the Automobile Association of Singapore and various members of the public to upgrade the line for passenger service.
  Use of steam locomotives was discontinued in Singapore in 1972. Electrification was planned since the late 1970s but plans never come to fruition.
  KTM trialled railbus services using experimental vehicles from BRE-Leyland and Ganz Mavag of Hungary between Singapore and Johor Bahru in 1988.
  In 1982, a closed loop monorail line commenced operations at the resort island of Sentosa following the approval of plans to build it in 1979. The same year, the green light was also given to the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) following a three-phase study conducted from 1972 to 1982 and a debate on an all-bus system against a bus-rail system. The initial MRT network opened in phases from 1987 to 1990, two years ahead of the original deadline of 1992.
  In 1990, an rubber-tyred automated people mover, the Changi Airport Skytrain, was opened in Changi Airport to connect between Terminal 1 and the then newly-opened Terminal 2 on both the landside and airside. Like many of its contemporaries such as the Tampa International Airport People Movers and the Gatwick Airport Shuttle Transit, the Skytrain initially used the fully automated Westinghouse-Adtranz C-100 system.
  In 1995, the statutory board in charge of the MRT, the MRTC, was merged with several other statutory boards in charge of other land transport matters to form the Land Transport Authority.
caption: A map of the initial MRT system used from 1987–1996
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