What does this topic have to do with me?
Speaking of Johor Bahru, I believe I will not be unfamiliar with the Shin Rou Long Dike. Do you know that this land border connecting Johor Bahru and Singapore has a history of 100 years. Over the past century, it has promoted economic, trade, cultural and personnel exchanges between Malaysia and Singapore. Even if it is not Johor, this long dike has an indirect relationship with you and me, and it also brings profound and long-term significance to our country.
The Xinrou Long Dike, which spans the Johor Strait, is an extraordinary transportation route.
It combines roads, railways and water pipes. As the situation evolved over a century, the significance and importance of Changdi to the people, society and the country also changed.
Let’s open the long scroll of history and take a look at the process of the new soft long dike from scratch.
Andrew Clarke,
the governor of the Straits colony proposed for the first time the railway was built
to connect Singapore and Johor,
but was put on hold because of its high cost
and limited capacity.
The Singapore-Kranzhi Railway,
which connects Singapore Down Road and Woodlands to carry passengers and cargo.
Passengers who want to travel to Johor Bahru
will get off at Woodlands Station first,
then board a steam-powered ferry
to cross the Johor Strait to Johor Bahru,
and vice versa.
from Negeri Sembilan to
Johor Bahru was completed in June.
To meet greater demand,
the "train ferry" was put into operation and
installed railway tracks on the ferry,
to transport up to six train cars
by sea connecting the railways at both ends.
W. Eyre Kenny,
director of the Malay Federal Public Works Agency,
rocks and gravel be dumped
on the Johor Strait to build a long dike.
The construction of the Xinrou Long Dike started in August and
was undertaken by a engineering company in London, England
According to the standards of the time,
the Xinrou Long Dike was hailed as
one of the greatest projects in the Far East.
The Xinrou Long Dike has been completed,
and freight and passenger train services
have been operated one after another.
The Xinrou Long Dike officially opened, and
Laurence Guillemard,
the Governor of the Straits Colony .
along the long dike
was completed,
allowing the raw water to be transported from Johor
to Singapore.
During World War II, Britain blew up
the switch bridge and central section
and cut off water pipes
to prevent Japan
from entering Singapore from Malaya.
temporarily built a bridge
over the gap and then entered Singapore.
After the end of World War II,
the British side rebuilt the long dike,
but the authorities did not rebuild the switch bridge and
the lock channel was permanently closed.
Nearly two years after Malaysia and Singapore split,
both sides implemented passport control measures.
However, in order to simplify the entry and exit procedures between the two countries
,
Malaysia and Singapore
introduced restricted passports in the same year,
but have now been discontinued.
After 1964,
the Xinrou Long Dike was expanded twice
to meet the huge traffic volume.
The second channel of Malaysia and Xinhua officially opened,
diversion of traffic volume to the Xinru Long Dike.
The then Prime Minister Mahathir proposed
to remove one end of the Johor Delta
and replace it with a curved bridge.
Prime Minister Abdulla
stopped building curved bridges based on national sovereignty
As for
the artificial island filled in to build a curved bridge,
it is still visible today.
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Lion City
has finished its operation.
Johor Sultan Ibrahim
personally drove the last train and
entered our country through the Xinru Long Dike.
China has implemented a movement control order
to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Xinrou Long Dike has been closed for 744 days,
and heavy vehicles carrying only essential goods
have been allowed to travel between the two places through the Long Dike.
Malaysia and Singapore lift border controls, and
the New Rome long embankment reopened.
The Xinrou MRT system
is expected to carry
10,000 passengers per hour after it is opened to traffic.
The traffic flow of Changdi has increased by 20 times in 60 years!
According to statistics, an average of 350,000 people travel through the Xinrou Long Dike every day, and traffic congestion occurs every weekend and public holidays.
From 1958 to 2018, the average daily traffic flow of Xinrou Changdi increased by 20 times in 60 years!
News reports often mention that one of the world's busiest land checkpoints is located in Malaysia and Singapore, but how busy is it?
Data shows that among the nine busy land levels in the world, the Xinrou Long Dike ranks second, second only to the Gongbei Port in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China; as for the second channel of Ma Xin, it is also on the list, ranking eighth.
The long dike has been widened from narrow to wider for more than three times in a century
In order to cope with the growing transportation demand, Xinrou Long Dike has carried out three widening projects, with a width of more than three times from the original 8 meters to about 27.8 meters now.
When the long dike opened,
the pavement was only 8 meters wide.
The long dike was widened for the first time,
with the lane increased from two to three,
and a sidewalk added.
Ten years later,
the lanes increased from three to six,
including a
dedicated overpass for heavy vehicles.
In order to cooperate with the expansion project of the old New Mountain Pass
,
another lane was added to the Chinese side of the long dike
The overpass dedicated to heavy vehicles
no longer exists,
but has been replaced with a dedicated lane, and
to the left is a dedicated motorcycle lane.
In addition to the Shinjou Long Dike, Malaysia and Singapore also built the second Malaysianjou Second Passage in the 1990s, connecting Tanjung Kupang and Singapore Tuas in western Johor to divert traffic on the Shinjou.
Since Malaysia and Singapore lifted border control measures for the COVID-19 epidemic in April 2022, the number of people traveling between Singapore and Johnson has increased sharply, and returned to the level of 100 million last year.
Authorities estimate that the number of people clearing the two land checkpoints in Malaysia and Xinhua will increase by 15% each year. Based on this data, the number of inbound and outbound visitors in 2027 is expected to exceed 200 million!
How to deal with the two channels still being congested?
Although Malaysia and Singapore already have two major land transportation routes, they are still difficult to cope with the huge transportation needs.
In view of this, the Chinese government established the "Special Committee on Solving Traffic Congestion in Xinrou Changdi" in 2019 and formulated a number of measures to prescribe the right medicine, including:
- Contra lane is implemented during peak hours.
- Added the motorcycle automatic customs clearance system (M-Bike) channel.
- Explore the construction of covered sidewalks in Xinrou Long Dike.
- Improve two land levels in Johor Bahru, namely the Sultan Iskandar Building (Johor Bahru Checkpoint) and the Sultan Abu Bakar Building (Malaysian Second Passage Level).
On the other hand, the Woodlands checkpoint in Singapore will be expanded in stages from 2025, for a period of 10 to 15 years. Once completed, the Woodlands level will be five times larger than the existing one, equal to 133 standard football fields, and the clearance time during busy periods will be shortened from the current approximately 60 minutes to 15 minutes.
Just as Malaysia and Singapore are working to solve the problem, there are also various pipelines on the Internet to help the Overthrow people avoid the car dragon. For example, using traffic data from the past week to speculate on the customs clearance time, and observing the fixed-point camera screens set on the Xinrou Long Dike and the second channel of the Malaysian New Zealand so that passengers can grasp the latest traffic conditions and decide the appropriate time to travel between the two places.
Is it faster to pass the passport without showing a code?
In the current era of "everyone has a mobile phone", scanning QR codes has become the norm in daily life. In addition to scanning the code to order food and paying, you can also scan the code to pass the test.
Starting from June 1, two land levels in Johor Bahru will use different mobile applications. People only need to create personal information on the mobile application in advance, then generate an exclusive QR code from the system, and then scan the QR code at the clearance counter to complete the clearance procedure without showing their passport.
Among them, the Johor Bahru level will use the brand new MyRentas mobile application, while the second channel level of the Malaysian New Zealand will use the MyTrip function of the MySejahtera mobile application. Sin Chew Daily reported that this is done to test systems that are more efficient.
The new measure is in a three-month testing phase and is currently not available to foreigners. The authorities expect the new measures will reduce waiting time for customs clearancers by 50%, and people can still use physical passports when entering and leaving the country.
However, according to a June 3 news report, MyRentas' suppliers are improving their mobile applications and are not ready to be put into use, so only the second channel level of the Malaysian New Zealand has enabled MyTrip feature.
On the Singapore side, the authorities have launched a scanning code clearance system at the Woodlands and Tuas levels since March this year. Passengers can quickly scan the code to clear the entire customs clearance time as long as they set the QR code in advance on the MyICA mobile mobile application. The overall customs clearance time is expected to be shortened by 30%.
This measure is only for passengers driving or taking a car. As for passengers arriving in Singapore by bus or train, they still need to use a physical passport to clear the pass.
The barometer of the relationship between Shima and New Zealand in the century
As a infrastructure with a century-old history, the story of the Xinru Long Dike is far more than the endless traffic, but also affects the historical, political and social changes of Malaysia and Singapore.
After the opening of the Xinrou Long Dike in 1924, the British colonial government operated the Long Dike with domestic infrastructure. Until 1965, the Long Dike became a transnational border channel and has been occasionally used by politicians to threaten the division of the two places.
According to Singapore's Straits Times, then-Speaker of the Johor State Parliament, Haji Ali Raya, said in August 1966 that the New Johor Long Delta is not politically and economically beneficial, and it should be demolished and a port should be built in the Johor Strait area to drive my country's economy.
Thirty years later, then Prime Minister Mahathir proposed to replace the New Rou Long Dike with a brand new bridge so that ships could pass through the Johor Strait. These remarks prompted Malaysia and Singapore to conduct bilateral negotiations on this many times, but without reaching a consensus between the two sides, Mahathir proposed in 2002 to demolish the Johor end of the dike and replace it with a curved bridge called "Beautiful View Bridge". Later, Mahathir's successor Abdul Ra ordered the cancellation of the project in 2006.
In addition, the three water pipes built along the long dike have transported raw water from Johor to Singapore for many years. They can be said to be one of the lifelines of Singapore and one of the friction points of the Malaysia-Singapore relationship.
In the 1960s, Malaysia and Singapore signed two water supply agreements, one signed in 1961 (which expired in 2011); the other signed in 1962 and valid until 2061.
What is now controversial is the 1962 agreement. According to the document, my country allows Singapore to purchase 1,000 gallons of raw water for 3 sen in RMB, and it is stated that the two parties can re-examine the water supply price 25 years later, that is, in 1987, but my country did not negotiate with Singapore.
From 1998 to 2003, when Mahathir proposed to demolish the New Rouge Delta, Malaysia and Singapore debated over water supply. At first, Mahathir proposed that our country sell raw water to Singapore at a price of 45 sen per 1,000 gallons, and then increased it to 60 sen, or even to RM6.25, which is 200 times higher than the price in 1962!
To this day, the two sides have not reached a consensus on this, and the water supply price remains at 3 cents per 1,000 gallons.
Regarding the prospects of the water supply project, current Prime Minister Anwar stated that my country must fulfill its commitment to supply water to Singapore, and it is necessary for both sides to cooperate to increase the capacity of the Johor River to benefit the people of Johor New Zealand and meet the growing demand.
Century Cross-border Mobility Shapes Collective Memories
Although the two sides have differences on some issues, it is undeniable that Malaysia and Singapore are still major trading partners, and the Xinru Long Dike is an important economic lifeline.
From essentials such as eggs, vegetables and fruits to commodities such as ornamental fish and semiconductors, the transportation of large quantities of goods through the long dike is a proof. In addition, thousands of Malaysians travel to and from Singapore to work every day, and Singaporeans pouring into Johor Bahru on weekends and public holidays highlights the close relationship between the peoples of the two places.
After 100 years of new soft and long dike, it is not only connected with the two places of soft and new, but also the trade, culture and feelings of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In the future, it will continue to write more common memories of life for generations.
Let’s take a look at the present and present appearance of the Xinru Changdi through the comparison of five new and old photos.
Aerial view of Xinrou Long Dike (1953 | 2024)
Looking at the Xinrou Long Dike from Johor Bahru (1924 | 2020)
Viewed from Singapore (1942 | 2022)
Aerial view of the Johor end of the Xinrou Long Dike (1953 | 2024)
Viewed from Singapore (1970s | 2020)
Data collection and analysis: Chen Chenghui
data collection and compilation: Lin Yuhang, Chen Chenghui
mapped by Chen Huishi, Chen Chenghui
writing by Chen Chenghui: Chen Chenghui
photo source:
Malaysian National Archives, Singapore National Archives,
Singapore National Museum, National University of Singapore Central Library,
Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Agency, Royal Air Force,
Australian National Library, Australian War Memorial Hall, Google Maps,
PaperToTravel, Azhar Mohamed, Flickr/Mohamed Shaz, Newsgraphy / Chen Chenghui
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