With 24km of undisturbed trails stretching from Tanjong Pagar in the Singapore CBD all the way to Woodlands in the North, the Green Corridor is truly a sight to behold in modern Singapore. This is because even though Singapore consists of plenty of park connectors and places to run and jog in the city area, the Green Corridor is one of the few areas that, as of now, are still unpaved and natural.

The Green Corridor is truly a spectacular sight in the heart of Singapore CBD.

But despite the natural greenery, what also makes running through the Green Corridor quite unique, is that roughly at every 5km to 6km, it is possible to refuel and restock throughout your run, with plenty of shops and vending machines near the trail – and these are all within short walks of a few minutes away.

Some of the areas of civilisation, even include shopping malls and eating places such as the Rail Mall, Junction 10 as well as a couple of MRT stations on the new DownTown Line – Bukit Panjang and King Albert Park.

It’s easy to get back to civilisation after a visit to the Green Corridor.

Has fond memories for me

Running through the Green Corridor has some rather fond memories for me. I will always associate this with organised trail races such as The North Face and the Green Corridor Run, as well as local running groups on fun runs with this part of Singapore.

Who could forget the iconic Bukit Timah Rail Station?

I may not have been able to experience the Malaysia bound trains that had used to ply along the Green Corridor train tracks, but the abandoned train tracks left over there have always intrigued me too, especially in terms of the rather unique and novel photo-taking opportunities that they have to offer.

I had initially been introduced to the Green Corridor trails during a short run with my physiotherapist after recovering from an injury. And I still remember myself, marvelling at the sheer beauty of this piece of nature in the heart of Singapore then. So I knew it was a place that I simply had to visit again.

The sheer beauty 0f this place is amazing.

My last experience with the Green Corridor trail was at a race, during the 2016 Green Corridor Run which had taken place in March this year. Unfortunately though I had not been able to enjoy the nature and sheer beauty of the trail as much as I should have at that time, because it was a race and because of that, I had probably been looking at my GPS watch more often than I should have!

Lots of iconic train tracks at the Green Corridor.

Scheduled to be closed for renovation and redevelopment

So it is quite sad then, that this beautiful and unique trail is scheduled to be closed very soon, for renovation and redevelopment, to turn it into a park connector, but this new connector will only be opened in 2019, which is still several years away from now. But after the renovations, the place will never be exactly the same as it is now.

We met at Outram Park MRT to run through the Green Corridor.
[Photo by Jason Foo/Facebook]

A run from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands

Before the scheduled closure of the Green Corridor, one of my running kakis had decided to arrange a run all the way from one end of the Green Corridor to the other, prior to the impending closure. This run had taken place yesterday morning.

Due to the memories that I have had of the trails here, this planned run was therefore one that I simply could not miss out on. So I had thought running here would be a great way to relive the memories of the Green Corridor and to take some final photos of the place – before the place becomes changed forever.

A lovely place to spend a Sunday morning.

So early yesterday morning, I headed down to the meeting point at the Outram MRT Station. There were about 65 other runners turning up, and most had the same feelings as me, about the closure of the Green Corridor trails.

Beginning the Run

At about 7.30am in the morning, we all then jogged down to the Green Corridor till we found an opening to enter the trails – this had been about 1.5km away from the train station. With the trails before me at this point,, my memories of this year’s Green Corridor Run came flooding back to me, as the run had also started at Tanjong Pagar part of the trail.

During the actual run itself, I slowed down my pace so that I could take in the beauty of the trails and simply tried to lose myself within the nature. After all this would be one of my last chances to appreciate the Green Corridor trails in the state that it currently is.

I ran at a very slow pace so I could take in the beauty of the trails.

As a whole, the run went pretty well. Due to the earlier starting time at 7.30am, it was not that hot at the beginning and I found the weather quite breezy and cooling at the start of the run. Unfortunately it had got hotter about a couple of hours later, though.

Despite the heat though, I stopped to take photos ever so often too, especially at the Bukit Timah Railway Tracks which had been about 10.5 to 11km away from Tanjong Pagar. At this stage, King Albert Park MRT station was nearby so I had contemplated simply going home from there, but in the end, I had decided to slowly walk on for a little further, as I was probably feeling more lazy rather than tired, at that stage.

Runners in action along the green corridor.

In the end, I got as far as Junction 10 at Bukit Panjang before catching the nearby MRT home, together with another one of my running kakis.

I love trail running… but apparently I love MRT stations, where I can catch the train home, more!

This had been roughly about 16km away from the start point. I didn’t quite manage to get to the other end of the Green Corridor Trails at Woodlands, but I still thought that it was still a nice morning run, and exploring these trails again let all my old memories about the treasured Green Corridor trails, came flooding back.

2016 Green Corridor Run

2016 CompresSport Rail Corridor Run

The Green Run 2016

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