Walking on Singapore MRT Lines

After some years living in Singapore, I basically went to all places that captured my interests already, be it attractions, parks, beaches, malls or lakes.

In the search for a new thing to do, I suddenly thought, why not walk on MRT lines? Obviously not on the track, but instead I follow the lines on the ground.

It’s surprisingly good. I get to see the daily life of the people in each estate all around Singapore, while have for myself some exercising at the same time. I also get to experience food in faraway places that I wouldn’t have gone to otherwise. I’d say this is a good way for some exercising.

And after 40 sessions spread over a bit more than 2 months, from 28 January to 1 April 2024, I have finally conquered all opened sections of the MRT/LRT system of Singapore. Every single line, every line termini, and a whole lot of stations. Of course, a lot of money was spent on fares too, I think I spent at least a hundred dollar on this whole project. I should have bought a concession card before I started, but silly me forgot concession cards existed until much later.

Throughout the project, my performance actually increased as well. Initially I, just like any terminally online university student, wasn’t able to do much, and I only had some 5km sessions at around 5km/h. A 7km sounded like a crazy amount to me back then. Well, some 280km later, now 8km sessions are the norm and I can even consistently do them at around 5.5–6km/h. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

System map

Presenting: The MRT system map of Singapore, with only stations that are termini of my walking sessions. You can also download a higher quality version (1.17MB).

The future

I think I will continue doing this for sections that are still under construction. It will be hard though and for many places, it’s just impossible. For example the Tengah region is just a giant construction zone at the moment I heard – so I cannot do a lot of the JRL sections there. So, I dunno… perhaps the new sessions will be a lot more disjointed and messy than this nice little map we currently have of opened sections.

If you want to do the same

Please do! It will be very satisfying and energising.

Just note a few things:

• My tracks here are not necessarily the best track. Do use OneMap, OpenStreetMap and your device’s map app to plan the track carefully in advance. Especially OpenStreetMap, it’s really helpful and I wish I had known about it when I started – I would be able to optimise a lot more for my tracks.
• Most of the tracks here are friendly to cyclists, but not all. Some parts do involve stairs, so if you cycle instead of walk, you may have to take alternative routes or diversions in certain places.
• Be absolutely careful around expressways. You could face a long detour. @Government Please add pedestrian sidewalks on the sides of expressways, or at least more pedestrian bridges 🙏

(Posted on 2 April 2024)