The first period of Singapore’s railway history refers to the planning and realisation of the Singapore-Kranji Railway by the then colonial government. On 16 April 1900, then Acting Governor Alexander Swettenham “cut the first sod” at the site of the Tank Road station to commence works for the line.2 A year before, the Legislative Council had approved Cecil Clementi Smith’s plan to build a railway through the island. Although the station at Tank Road became the “Singapore terminus”, there were earlier plans to route the line on the other side of Government Hill (Fort Canning) and to commence service at the end of Orchard Road near Dhoby Ghaut, but it was eventually altered. It was probably the high cost of the real estate there that led to the change in the plans.
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