“We are totally not for the Cross Island Line to go through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve… It is a remnant fragment of an ancient rainforest with its incredible biodiversity. That’s something so priceless and invaluable that you can’t put a price on.”
Andrew Tay, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER, CICADA TREE ECO-PLACE
Author: CTEP Admin Page 18 of 20
On Saturday, 31 st August 2019, Cicada Tree Eco-Place supported the ‘Connecting Communities Through Rail Corridor’ event as part of the Friends of Rail Corridor group.
The event announced plans for a connected Rail Corridor stretching from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands and enhancements works to the former Bukit Timah Railway Station.
Volunteers from Cicada Tree Eco-Place led a nature walk for the community. The rustic nature surrounding the old Bukit Timah Railway Station contains many familiar kampong plants such as banana, brinjal, and rambutan, amidst the tall mature trees.
This provides a habitat for wildlife, especially birds. Some of the birds spotted at the walk include the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Pied Fantail, and Blue-Crowned Hanging Parrot.
The melodious calls of the critically endangered Straw-headed Bulbul can be heard as well. We are glad that participants of the walk appreciated the flora and fauna that often go unnoticed.
Indeed, the Rail Corridor boasts rich heritage and biodiversity that enthrals all visitors and we will definitely be back again!
The iconic railway tracks and old Bukit Timah Railway Station transported all of us back into the past. 
Participants feeling the leaf of the Toilet Paper Plant (Claoxylon indicum). Participants got excited by a huge bee/wasp nest in the distance. 
A gigantic bee/wasp nest can be seen hanging from a branch of a tree. Menacing yet fascinating! 
Little wild cucumbers brought delight to everyone. 
A fig sliced in half reveals the tiny flowers within. Participants learnt about the symbiotic relationship between figs and fig wasps.
自然环境教育组织“知了树自然生态”（Cicada Tree Eco-Place）主席赵琴音认为，空中公园将能吸引更多人接近大自然，也有助提升公众保育环境的意识。
她说：“空中公园附近的铁道走廊是不少濒危动物长期以来的栖息地，空中公园能为访客带来便利，吸引他们去探索这些周边的自然步道。
Translation – “Environmental education NGO, Cicada Tree Eco-Place’s president and co-founder, Zhao Qin Yin (Teresa Teo Guttensohn) opined that the sky park would encourage more members of the public to interact with nature and raise their awareness of conservation.
She said: “The sky park is adjacent to the Rail Corridor, which is an important long term habitat for our endangered wildlife. The elevated linear park will also bring greater convenience to visitors and attract them to explore the surrounding nature trails.”
Zaobao , 1 Sep 2019
Nature Society president says planned elevated linear park could rival New York’s High Line
Tiffany Fumiko Tay
The idea for the Bukit Timah Canal to serve as a green corridor has been around for some years, and work to spruce up the adjacent Rail Corridor may finally turn it into reality, said Dr Shawn Lum, president of the Nature Society (Singapore), yesterday.
Dr Lum, who backed the idea in a 2016 interview with The Straits Times, noted that the canal intersects with a number of large green patches, “so linking them up and adding appropriate landscaping would be really interesting”.