SINGAPORE – Users of the Rail Corridor can now enjoy facilities such as fitness areas, a playground and an open lawn at a community node in Buona Vista.

The new 1.6ha space – located at the intersection of North Buona Vista Road and Commonwealth Avenue – was launched on April 22 by National Development Minister Desmond Lee. It is the first community node along the Rail Corridor’s southern section, which spans Holland Road to Tanjong Pagar.

Mr Lee also announced the Government’s second ideas competition for the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in nine years, and said there is “immense potential to transform the site into a vibrant multi-functional community building, with attractive, inclusive and inviting public spaces for all”.

The first ideas competition for the former station was held and awarded in 2015 to a team comprising MKPL Architects and design firm Turenscape International, which proposed plans such as a heritage gallery, pop-up retail spaces and rooms for interest groups.

Alongside the concept design for the former station, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) had also chosen a winning master plan for the entire 24km Rail Corridor – the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway line that stretched from Tanjong Pagar to Kranji. The line was decommissioned in 2011 after about eight decades of service.

URA said submissions received for the second competition, which runs from April 22 till June 14, will guide the development of detailed plans to transform the former station and site “with attractive, inclusive and inviting public spaces for all”.

Competition participants are to suggest uses and activities for the 6.4ha site, which includes the three-storey main station building and other features near it; consider if new developments can be built to create more spaces for use; and work on ways to improve connectivity between the site and the green spaces surrounding it.

More details on the competition are available at go.gov.sg/TPRSIdeasCompetition

The public can also share their feedback and memories of the former station at go.gov.sg/TPRSfeedback.

On the new Buona Vista node, Mr Lee said it provides an inclusive space for people of all ages, and brings nearby residents and workers closer to nature.

Its features include a 900 sq m “plug-and-play” space under the North Buona Vista Link viaduct, which can be used for activities such as high-intensity interval training. Water and electrical power points will be added to the area by May.

Also available is a 500 sq m lawn that can be used as an outdoor event space, a children’s playground with biophilic elements and fitness areas for adults and seniors.

Along the path within the node, the National Parks Board planted vegetated swales – shallow and wet depressions that Mr Lee said “resemble the original streams and marshland landscape of the Rail Corridor before the railway was built”.

Species planted included the critically endangered Lepironia articulata, and the narrow-leaf cat tail (Typha angustifolia).

The node was developed by real estate firm Ho Bee Land, which in December 2023 completed construction of Elementum – a biomedical sciences building next to the node.

Ms Tang Hsiao Ling, director of JTC Corporation’s Urban Planning and Architecture Division, said Ho Bee developed the node based on terms in a concept and price tender, which it won for the Elementum site in 2020 on a 60-year lease.

She added that JTC – the agency that manages one-north, which Elementum is in – brought forward the tender for the site by “a few years” so that the Buona Vista node could be ready for public use earlier.

About 21km of the Rail Corridor is currently publicly accessible. The remaining 3km – which includes stretches north of the Kranji Node towards Woodlands Checkpoint, as well as a stretch near the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station – will be reopened to the public alongside developments in those areas.

The three other nodes currently open along the Rail Corridor are Bukit Timah Railway Station, Kranji Node and one underneath the Pan-Island Expressway viaduct near Rifle Range Nature Park.

Upcoming nodes include one under Queensway Viaduct, which is to be ready by 2027; the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, which is slated to be restored by 2028; and the former Bukit Timah Fire Station, which was awarded via tender to LHN Group in April 2024 and is expected to open in the first half of 2025.

Asked why a second ideas competition was called and how the 2015 edition will contribute towards the future of the former railway station, a URA spokesperson said the winning concept design considered how to “sensitively integrate” the upcoming Cantonment MRT station with the historic national monument. This guided ongoing works for the MRT station, including the dismantling and reinstatement of Tanjong Pagar’s platform canopies – one of its distinctive features.

The spokesperson added that with Cantonment station to be completed by 2026, “there is opportunity to engage the public and community further to build on the concept design for Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and develop more detailed plans and proposals, such as ideas for specific uses, programmes and design for spaces inside the building as well as new possibilities”.

The scope of the two competitions also differ, said the spokesperson, citing an expanded boundary in the 2024 competition, which now includes a 560m-long stretch of the Rail Corridor between the former railway station and Kampong Bahru Road, as well as two former signal cabins which will be retained and put to adaptive reuse.

To allow greater flexibility and create more spaces for new uses and activities, he said, participants in the latest competition “should also propose sensitive design interventions such as low-scale infill developments or structures within the site”.

While the 2015 competition was opened only to architecture and landscape professionals, the 2024 edition is open to everyone, including tertiary students, professionals and members of the public.

URA said that from the third quarter of 2024, it will consult the public for feedback on three identity corridors that were identified in the agency’s long-term plan in 2022 – Thomson-Kallang, Historic East and Inner Ring.

The two other identity corridors identified then were the Rail Corridor and the Southern Ridges and Coast.

URA said it will also gather feedback on improving recreational experiences along Kallang River and how areas such as Moonstone Lane Estate can become community nodes, part of engagement for the upcoming draft master plan in 2025.

The authority will also seek ideas on how to retain and add to the character and charm of places in the Historic East such as Katong, to make them more walkable and enjoyable.

For the Inner Ring corridor, which includes roads such as Tiong Bahru, Scotts and Balestier as well as Lavender Street, URA will ask for suggestions to improve the walking and cycling experience, and to develop new public spaces and programmes.

Sign-ups for the engagement sessions can be done at go.gov.sg/identity-corridors

Finally, the public will be able to view plans for the Southern Ridges and Coast corridor at the draft master plan exhibition in 2025, and thereafter share their feedback on them.

A suite of public engagement initiatives for the upcoming master plan can be found at go.gov.sg/URADraftMasterPlan