Farrer Park MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station along the North East line (NEL), located on the boundary of Kallang and Rochor planning areas, Singapore. It is one of the two stations that serve the ethnic district of Little India. The station sits underneath the Connexion building, Farrer Park Hospital and One Farrer Hotel.
To accommodate the construction of the station, the formerly straight Race Course Road was broken up to its current two-part alignment, with both ends linked by junctions with Rangoon Road. Owen Road was also broken into two, as evident from its current alignment between Serangoon Road and Pek Kio estate. 55 lots required for the construction of the Farrer Park MRT station and the realignment of Race Course Road need to be surrendered by March 1997. However, as for the 51 lots required for the widening of Tessensohn Road and comprehensive redevelopment, the date of possession can be deferred to December 1997.[2][3][4]
The contract for the design and construction of Farrer Park station was awarded to a joint venture between Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Zublin AG for S$311.56 million (US$209.8 million) in April 1997. The contract also included the construction of the adjacent Kandang Kerabau station.[5] A jet-grouted block was required to be constructed prior to tunnelling works, allowing the toe of the diaphragm wall to be constructed above the block. A large deposit of marine clay reducing the stiffness of the ground, increasing the difficulty of tunnelling works.[6]
When tunneling between the Little India and Farrer Park stations, the heritage buildings along Race Course Road required protection against ground settlement. As these buildings were built on 'strip footings' and shallow timber piles, they were supported by the installation of metal supports and were being closely observed for any movement.[7] An old church near the tunnel excavation works, Foochow Methodist Church, was built on a combination of timber and H-piles, which caused uneven settlement and cracks to appear on the church walls. As a safety precaution, the church attendees temporarily relocated to the nearby Rex cinema while the LTA and church engineers strengthened the church foundation with steel supports and micropiles.[8]
Incidents
On 18 October 2017, a 38-year-old man was arrested for leaving bags unattended at Outram Park and Farrer Park stations. Said man reportedly left a bag on an exit of Farrer Park stations at 12:25pm Singapore time (GMT+8) but was later removed before police arrived. The bag contained a laptop, several mobile phones and miscellaneous items related to computers, and investigations concluded that he left the bag behind to tend to some errands. The man was later arrested for causing public nuisance.[9]
Station details
Located between Rangoon Road and Gloucester Road, Farrer Park station is close to Farrer Park Hospital, City Square Mall and Mustafa Centre.[10] The station is served by the NEL, between Little India and Boon Keng stations, and has the station code "NE8".[11] As part of the NEL, it is operated by SBS Transit.[12] The station operates between 6:02am (6:22am on Sunday and public holidays) and 11:48pm, with train services varying between 2.5 and 5 minutes.[13] Lighting in this station created an optical illusion that looked like an "illuminated toilet seat", which confused a netizen and sparked online discussion.[14] Confusion of this station with another station on the Circle line, Farrer Road, sparked a proposal to rename the station to "New World" or "Kitchener" station in 2011.[15]
Art in Transit
Farrer Park is an area with a rich sporting heritage and history. It is also known for being the site of Singapore's earliest horse racing turf club that draws its name from nearby street Old Racecourse Road. Farrer Park's interior design captured the spirit of the locality's sporting heritage with the Horse Racing and Soccer series of artworks titled Rhythmic Exuberance, by Singapore artist Poh Siew Wah. Another artwork by Poh, titled Aeroplane paid tribute to the first aeroplane landing in Singapore in 1911 at the Old Racecourse Road in Farrer Park.[16][17]
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