Back on the rails, we’re riding the Singapore MRT North-South Line from Jurong East to Yio Chu Kang. This is all part of my quest to visit every MRT (subway) station in Singapore, watching the island change from one stop to the next.

The name “North-South” is a bit misleading, since this particular line is shaped more like a question mark, but you can use it to travel all the way from the Straits of Johor to the Singapore Strait. Today I’m exploring the western and northern sections of the North-South Line. For the other half, continue here for the stops from Marina South Pier to Ang Mo Kio.

Looking for more rail adventures? For an overview of every MRT and LRT line, plus suggestions for where to start, visit Singapore by MRT and LRT.

Jurong East-Bukit Batok-Bukit Gombak-Choa Chu Kang

Jurong East

Most visitors come to Jurong East to shop or to work; this is a land of tall office buildings and giant malls. If you need to buy something — just about anything — this is your spot.

Jurong East is the “northern” terminus of the North-South Line (“north is in quotes here because Jurong East is actually in the southwestern quadrant of the country). It’s home to a major bus exchange and serves as an East-West Line interchange, so it’s one of the busiest stations in western Singapore. It’s also one of the most interesting looking:

Bukit Batok

Like many of the stops along this portion of the North-South Line, Bukit Batok lets out onto a small mall surrounded by HDBs (Housing and Development Board apartments) and condos.

The buildings are a bit more spread out here than in some areas, so it’s not clear what you might visit other than the mall. But the view from the station platform is one of the best:

I should note that while we tend to talk about the MRT as a subway, all of the rail and the stations from Jurong East around to Ang Mo Kio are above ground (with the exception of a few tunnels). So there’s a lot to see while you ride.

Bukit Gombak

On one side of Bukit Gombak station sits a local complex with small shops, a community club, and low-rise HDBs, which you can see above. On the other side is a 3,000-seat public stadium that includes a football pitch (soccer field) and a track. Just a bit beyond it, sitting at the heart of Bukit Batok Town Park, is Little Guilin, a cliff-face said to resemble a granite rock formation in China:

Choa Chu Kang

A “new town” developed in the 1980s, Choa Chu Kang is densely packed with HDBs and the occasional condo. This is the kind of place in Singapore where you feel like buildings just go on forever.

A busy stop, the MRT station at Choa Chu Kang connects directly to both the LRT (Light Rapid Transit) and a bus interchange.

Choa Chu Kang also gives its name to the largest cemetery in Singapore, but that’s a surprisingly long way from the center of town.

Yew Tee-Kranji-Marsiling-Woodlands

Yew Tee

Yew Tee is actually a subzone of Choa Chu Kang, so it is equally packed with buildings.

The station itself, long and low-slung, is typical of many of the stations along this part of the line.

“Yew Tee” means “oil pond” in Teochew (a Chinese dialect), and the area received this name because the Japanese stored oil in this area during their occupation of Singapore during World War II.

Kranji

Kranji once gave people access to the Turf Club, but in 2024, the government put an end to 180 years of horse racing in Singapore. This leaves Kranji feeling somewhat empty, with only these creatures standing guard.

Other than this, Kranji lets out onto wide open fields and, some distance away, a giant water reclamation plant. But it’s not a stop you’re likely to visit unless you work at the nearby industrial estate.

Fun fact: Kranji and the surrounding area were named after the Keranji tree, also known as the velvet tamarind tree.

Marsiling

Along with Kranji, Marsiling is one of the few stops on this part of the North-South line with no mall attached. But unlike Kranji, Marsiling is densely populated — HDBs are jammed cheek by jowl, and there’s even a single giant HDB tower.

Because there are no malls here, people do their shopping in small storefronts and at shops that spill out onto the sidewalks.

There aren’t any particular sights at Marsiling, but on a weekend morning, it’s a great place to observe the hustle and bustle of Singapore.

Woodlands

Woodlands is a busy station, with people from all over northern Singapore coming to shop at Causeway Point (a large shopping mall) and taking advantage of the multiple transportation options centered here. Woodlands is the site of a massive bus interchange, and in addition to being a stop on the North-South Line, it serves the Thomson-East Coast Line.

On a clear day, you can see Malaysia from the train platform (just squint and focus on the tall buildings in the background)!

Admiralty-Sembawang-Canberra

Admiralty

Along with Marsiling, Admiralty is technically a neighborhood of the Woodlands. The station sits smack in the middle of lots of HDBs, but what’s notable here are the beautiful plantings — palms along the roadway …

… and plumeria and other flowers growing along the under-the-MRT-tracks park connector.

When you hit stops like Admiralty, you’re reminded of Singapore’s goal to be a City in a Garden.

Sembawang

This stop feels a lot like Admiralty in many ways, if slightly busier and more crowded. But the main street in front of the station is still notable for its landscaping.

Sembawang sits at Singapore’s northern tip, and it’s home to both commercial dockyards and naval vessels. The HDBs here reflect the seaside location, with wavy architectural decorations, portholes, and nautically themed mosaic benches:

If you walk really far — and this takes some commitment — you can see dozens of elegant black and white bungalows built by the British for their military personnel.

Most of these black and whites are now leased from the Singapore government by the navies of the US, Australia, and New Zealand — so they’re still used to house military families.

Canberra

Inside, Canberra Station looks lovely, with high ceilings and lots of natural light coming in through the glass panes. It’s meant to have a nautical theme and look like a ship from the outside, but I’m not sure I’m convinced.

The whole place feels pretty sleepy, though it’s good if you want a direct overhead pedestrian link to a mall or the condos right across the street. You can see HDBs in the distance …

… but for me, the major attraction was the bright white gopuram of the Holy Tree Sri Balasubraminar Temple.

Yishun-Khatib-Yio Chu Kang

Yishun

The Yishun station (you can see it above) lets out onto the Northpoint Mall on one side and a slew of HDBs on the other.

If you walk 10 minutes north (about equidistant between Yishun and Canberra) you’ll find yourself at the impressive Darul Makmur mosque …

… and if you walk 10 minutes east, you’ll get to Yishun Park & Dipterocarp Arboretum.

As a side note, Yishun gets a bad rap; if you ask a local, they’ll tell you that strange things happen here. My friend who lives in Yishun calls it “the Florida of Singapore.”

Khatib

When you alight at Khatib, you’ll notice one row of HDBs after another marching off in every direction. But I appreciated this stop for the SASCO@KHATIB cafe, where I enjoyed a much-needed iced tea, and the first station art I’d seen all day (it was dusty and inaccessible, but at least it’s art).

I also came across a row of bird cages as I wound my way through the HDBs. Though I’m not a fan of captive birds, they reminded me of my journey to the Kebun Baru Bird Singing Club.

What I most loved about Khatib were the murals decorating so many of the HDBs.

Yio Chu Kang

It’s a long ride from Khatib to Yio Chu Kang — in fact, it’s the longest distance between any two MRT stations in Singapore. According to some local rumors, Disney was supposed to build an Asian outpost of Disneyland here, but it went to Hong Kong instead. In any case, we now have great open space and views out the train windows over the Seletar Reservoir.

My favorite feature at this stop had to be the Yio Chu Kang ActiveSG Sports Hall, which is a fascinating building.

Inside, you can play ping pong, badminton, or — as advertised by NILA the active sporting mascot — pickleball!