Singapore to conserve historic Tanjong Pagar train station

SINGAPORE - Singapore vowed Monday to conserve a historic train station after neighbouring Malaysia cedes ownership of railway land in the city-state.

Foreign Minister George Yeo said the Tanjong Pagar station, built during British colonial rule over the two countries, would be protected.

The building, located in an obscure corner of Singapore’s port and business district, will be vacated by July 2011 under a deal to settle a longstanding land dispute between the two countries.

The station’s facilities will be relocated to Woodlands, a northern suburb across a narrow strip of water from Malaysia. But "the railway station building in Tanjong Pagar will be conserved and will serve as the centrepiece for any future development on the site," Yeo said in parliament.

Land-scarce Singapore is in constant need of space for future development and some Singaporeans were concerned that the site would be turned into another complex for condominiums and shopping malls.

A group of Singaporeans started a petition to preserve the station and its rich history for future generations.

"I want them to know that once upon a time, this station connected Singapore to the rest of the world... before Internet made it easy to Google for anything," Carolyn Seet, who started the petition in July, told AFP this month.

"Old buildings remind you of your roots," she said.

With its faded facade and four imposing life-size marble sculptures atop the main entrance, the station is an anomaly in a landscape dominated by office towers, hotels and high-rise apartment blocks.

The four sculptures represent agriculture, commerce, transport and industry -- the symbols of economic prosperity during the heyday of British rule until the late 1950s. -AFP