Farrer Park MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit station along the North East line, 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, an integrated hospital and hotel complex. Farrer Park was named after John Farrer, who was President of the Municipal Commissioners from 1919 to 1931.
History
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. Before the station opened, the Singapore Civil Defence Force conducted the second ever Shelter Open House on 15–16 February 2003, together with Chinatown, Serangoon, and Hougang stations. On the evening of 25 December 2007, some technical difficulties were experienced along the North East line caused delays for train services. A member of the public who was affected by the delay said she waited for at least 20 minutes for the train at the station. Trains along the North East line were delayed from about 3.15 pm to 3.36 pm on 6 April 2012 due to a signalling fault, affecting services between Chinatown and HarbourFront stations. One train had to be turned round to the northbound direction at Farrer Park MRT station to "regulate service". On 17 June 2015, train services between Farrer Park and Hougang stations were delayed due to a track fault. Cash top-ups are no longer accepted at passenger service centres from 1 September 2017, at Farrer Park MRT station.
Art in Transit
is an area with a rich sporting heritage and history, and also known for being the site of Singapore's earliest horse racingturf club from the street name 'Old Racecourse Road' draws its name from. 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.
