Dear readers, Railway Corridor North was opened on 10 Feb 2023 and with the opening, I recently tried to walk the Railway Corridor North from Hillview all the way to Kranji. So, with this article, I shared how one can walk the Railway Corridor North from Hillview all the way to Kranji.
If you have thought that the walk from Hillview to Kranji along Railway Corridor North is simple as it means just following the railway corridor track and walk and walk, you would be wrong! In this article, I will share all that I have learnt from my recent attempt to walk the railway corridor from Hillview to Kranji. You will see that the journey itself is exciting with many twists and turns.
First, to get to the starting point. For commuters taking public transport, alight at Hillview MRT station and exit at the side where Rail Mall is and walk to the end of the shophouses. Near the end of the row of shophouses, one can easily spot a large metal roof structure, walk along the large metal roof structure towards the roads (i.e. towards Woodlands as per the sign) to start our trek.
Soon as I began my walk past the condos, I met a giant lizard and a bunch of monkeys. The walk was enjoyable and scenic until I met with a roadblock.
The roadblock was actually the sealing off of the park connector ahead for construction works, which could only be completed by fourth quarter of 2024, according to a sign. No choice, one would need to walk past the construction site to get back to the Railway Corridor.
To make sure you are on track literally and figuratively, ensure that you see bus stop “B17 Upper Bukit Timah Road” which is also Bus Stop Number 43071 “Opposite Dairy Farm Rd” and get onto the track just beside the bus stop to get back to the Railway Corridor. With that, I hope morale is once again restored and let us continue the trek along railway corridor to Kranji!
To prepare yourself for this trek up Railway Corridor North, please be advised that this whole stretch of walk or trek is totally uncovered by any trees! You will be basically walking right under the sun! For me, I was technically walking from 3pm under the hot sun, wearing just a hat and with just some sun block.
Also, remember to bring an umbrella in case it rains and there are really not many shelters nearby that you can take cover! The walk is interesting as despite walking under the sun and on mostly grass, one can look at the different buildings and landscape along the journey. The grassy and flat terrain is also popular with cyclists, one of whom picked up some small berries from shrubs. I asked the cyclist picking up the berries what fruit she was picking. She mentioned in some non-local language and plain English that the fruit “can eat” (which means fruit can be eaten).
Keep on walking and walking until you see a large building. This building is an important one for your trek as I will explain later.
This building is none other than The Tennery apartment cum Junction 10 shopping mall. This building is important because it will offer a much-needed toilet break of drink break with café, toilets and supermarket in the shopping mall. Do make full use of this good pit stop before you continue your journey!
Moving on, it is time to get back to the walk to railway corridor north to Kranji! Just in front of The Tennery, you should be able to find a park connector called Pang Sua Park Connector. I read a sign at entrance of Pang Sua Park Connector that this is the sign to continue the walk up the Railway Corridor.
Pang Sua Park Connector is long and scenic. Along the way, I saw many amazing features. And along the way, while I am a bit skeptical that a Park Connector forms part of the Railway corridor, I make at least one back turn to see that there is a notice that I am on the right track on the Railway corridor.
At last, after slightly more than one hour, I made it to the other end of Pang Sua Park Connector, only to be greeted by a road. Crossing the road, I was about to continue my trek despite becoming even more doubtful that I am on the right track. I was by a canal leading to what seems to be dormitories ahead. It was then that I believed that I am on the wrong track and eventually succumbed to confirming my exact location using Google Maps. Yes, I am lost and if I have gone further up, this is where I would end up at rather than near Kranji MRT station!
I am not a person who would use Google Maps when hiking as I prefer to use the natural cues and signs to trek. But this time, I had to admit I failed in my mission to walk along Railway Corridor North from Hillview to Kranji! I ended up around Choa Chu Kang instead and to finish off my story here, eventually I went to frantically search for a bus to bring me back to Choa Chu Kang MRT station.
So, what went wrong in my hike? Well, remember that I earlier mentioned the The Tennery apartment cum Junction 10 shopping mall is an important building for this trek? Well, the building is not only important as a pit stop for your drink and toilet break, but this building can really make or break your trek from Hillview to Kranji along Railway Corridor as it did for me!
You see, after analyzing the failure of my trek using Google Map, my doubt on the park connector being part of the Railway Corridor is really valid. Surprising to me, despite the few signs put up that Pang Sua Park connector is the route to continue the Railway Corridor North, based on Google Maps, this is hardly the case. After the Tennery apartment, the place to continue back to Railway Corridor North is actually here or this link here.
So, after the Tennery, I was basically walking Pang Sua Park Connector, where the actual Railway Corridor path is actually on the opposite side of Pang Sua River. At this junction, the trajectory of Pang Sua Connector and Railway Corridor North diverged with Pang Sua Park Connector heading to Choa Chu Kang and the Railway Corridor North leading to Kranji.
I was actually wanting to write on the successful walk from Hillview to Kranji along Railway Corridor North just like I did for my walk at Rifle Range Nature Park. I was also trying to make some meaningful observations about my walk e.g. part 1 of walk being sand and grass; part 2 being park connector, etc. But I did not expect that my sharing here turns out to be surprising but still meaningful to me.
Despite the failure of my trek from Hillview to Kranji along the Railway Corridor North, I am happy to be able to trek the entire of Pang Sua Park connector and to have had the opportunity to take in the nice sights, flora and fauna of the connector.
Most importantly, I hope my sharing here will allow you to make a successful and enjoyable walk along Railway Corridor North from Hillview to Kranji!
All the very Best in your walk and trek up to Kranji! I will definitely make another attempt from Hillview to Kranji, this time armed with the benefit of experience!
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