The Earth is changing and we know it. Climate irregularities have often been attributed to the detrimental attitudes and actions of global conglomerates. While it is often preached that the contributions of the individual can be of significance, we are often too busy or lazy to try.

With Heal the Earth 2011 coming up, we are once again reminded of the need to protect our natural home. After all, the decline of Mother Nature in turn translates into a harder and harsher existence for us and generations to come.

The Green Corridor proposal by the Nature Society (Singapore) is one cause that allows us collectively to make a real difference from the comforts of home.

The proposal of The Green Corridor offers a possible ‘green’ solution for the conversion of the KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) rail way track, once a highly contentious piece of land, into a "green corridor"; a safe and open linear garden. It proposes to protect the biodiversity along this track through the conservation of its current untouched state free of urban re-development plans.

In fact, while the railway land was being operated by the Malaysan Railway Authority, the society has been conducting nature trails which adopt the railway line as a reference guide for more than 10 years. With the announcement of the KTM land takeover by the Singapore government in exchange with the Malaysian authorities for other parcels of land, it dawned upon Nature Society Vice President Mr Leong Kwok Peng and his team that the potential of the land to be conversed as a green corridor must be highlighted.

Dr Geh Min, the Immediate Past President of NSS explains: “This proposal for the KTM Railway should not be viewed as a barrier to development. After all, the railway has been a symbol of progress in the past and should continue to be so. Rather, we feel that by exploring more creative, sensitive and inclusive ways to utilise the railway and its land we would be enhancing rather than reducing its value. In a country searching desperately for genuine icons it would be a tragedy to destroy this potent symbol of connectivity and inclusive progress.”

Land in question

The KTM Railway track runs through several plots of land such as Woodlands and Bukit Timah and splits into two smaller stretches, with one end at Tanjong Pagar and the other at Jurong. The total land that the two main railway lines occupies is approximately 173.7 hectares which is almost three times the size of the Botanic Gardens, or 0.24% the land mass of Singapore.

Because this land used to belong to the Malaysian authorities, any form of urban development was kept at bay to avoid any conflict of interest. This inadvertently translated into a myriad of landscapes left untouched by Singapore's rapid urbanisation. The rich ecology that flourishes alongside the track takes on the form of secondary forests, grasslands, small-scale fruit and vegetable farms. Open areas are also interspersed with canals, streams and marshlands on both sides of the tracks.

Connecting nature

Existing parks and park connectors also lie in the path of the railway track. Should the railway track be converted into the ‘Green Corridor’, these unaffected green spaces, together with the manicured parks would be connected in one continuous stretch.

The proposal also suggests that green patches which lie near population centres can be given over to the community to be converted into simple vegetable farms. This would serve as a form of recreation for the elderly while doubling up as a classroom for future generations to learn about basic food production. Such an initiative would be similar to the “Communities in Bloom Project” currently in existence and supported by NParks.

Preserving history

The railway line is also deeply symbolic. When Singapore and Malaysia were a singular entity known as Malaya, the railway line was the physical connector between the two borderless territories. The train station thus serves as a reminder of this historical fact.

Similarly, both the Tanjong Pagar station, modelled in the style of the 1920 Art Deco movement, and the cast iron railway bridge across Bukit Timah Road, remain rare architectural gems in Singapore.

In fact, Nature Society believes that if preserved, the railway line has the potential to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site as it already fulfils some of the requirements. Currently, UNESCO recognises more than 800 sites in more than 140 countries that has successfully met its list of 10 critical selection pointers that determines its “outstanding universal value”.

Spread the word

Is all you have to do to make a contribution. The society needs your support by educating others of the natural floral and fauna that exists within our highly manicured garden city. Aside from preserving icons of our heritage, we also have this chance to Heal the Earth.

Let’s do this!

1.      Read the proposal by Nature Society (Singapore):  The Green Corridor: A Proposal to Keep the Railway Lands as a Continuous Green Corridor

2.      Pass this proposal to 10 other friends.

3.      Visit their Facebook page and be a fan. You can also share your memories, photos and videos of the KTM Railway track.

4.      Follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/greencorridorsg and twit about it to your friends.

Other Green corridors

The concept of a ‘green corridor’, the conversion of abandoned railway lines into linear public gardens, is in fact, not entirely novel. Case studies include the Promenade Plantee in Paris and the Highline Park in New York.

Promenade Plantee, Paris

The Promenade plantee extends about 4.5km, linking Place de la Bastille to Bois de Vincennes. Rail traffic stopped in 1969 but it's conversion into a Green Corridor only began around 1989. It was officially opened for public visitation in 1993.

At the Promenade, visitors have the choice of relaxing in the cool green gardens on the converted viaduct or cycling on the ground level route. The space underneath the viaduct was transformed into a retail and Arts area called the Viaduc des Arts.

The Promenade was featured in the movie Before Sunset. It is also mentioned in the science fiction novel Olympos, by Dan Simmons.

Highline Park, New York

Once an elevated rail deck that ran along the Manhattan Lower West Side, this 2.3km stretch is now an aerial greenway.

The High Line halted operations in 1980s.  In 1990 a group advocating the preservation of the deck and its re-opening for public use was founded. They called themselves Friend of the Highline (FHL). Through them, a design competition was held to solicit innovative ideas for the re-use of the High Line.

Since much of the land beneath the deck also belonged to private developers and the railway deck itself still did not belong to New York City itself, Friends of the Highline lobbied successfully to change this in 2006.

The park was officially opened in June 2009 and has since witnessed new commercial developments as a spill over effect in its immediate environment.