Singapore
Singapore is an island city-state of just 719 km² — one degree north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula — with about 5.9 million people. Its territory is a main island plus more than sixty smaller ones, and a good deal of it is reclaimed land that did not exist a century ago. The Strait of Malacca and the Singapore Strait meet here, which is the entire reason the place became what it is: one of the busiest ports on earth, and a country with no hinterland at all.
For railways that produces an unusual situation. Singapore has an excellent urban network — the MRT — but it no longer has a domestic intercity railway, and it has no long-distance line of its own to speak of. The old Malayan main line into Tanjong Pagar station has closed and its alignment through the island is being turned into a green Rail Corridor instead. What crosses the water to Malaysia today is a very short shuttle, and the great train journeys that begin here begin by leaving.
Rail journeys in Singapore
Good to know
Can you take a long-distance train from Singapore?
Not within Singapore itself. The intercity railway that once ran from Tanjong Pagar up the Malay Peninsula no longer terminates in the city, and the way onto the Malaysian network is a short shuttle across the strait to Johor Bahru, where longer-distance services begin. So Singapore is a starting point rather than a destination for rail travel.
What is the Rail Corridor?
The alignment of the old Malayan railway through the island, about 24 km of it, kept as a continuous green route after the trains stopped. It passes preserved station buildings including Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar. It is a walk rather than a ride — worth knowing before planning a rail day around it.
Does the Eastern & Oriental Express still start here?
Yes. Both of Belmond's itineraries begin and end at Woodlands, and the train spends the days between them in Malaysia — the rainforest at Taman Negara, the hills above Penang. Singapore is where you board and where you come back to.
Is there a rail pass?
Nothing that would help a visitor here. The MRT uses contactless stored-value travel, and the cross-border shuttle is a separate ticket bought from the Malaysian operator. Singapore is outside every international rail-pass scheme.