SINGAPORE - When the new rail system first opened its doors on Nov 7, 1987, hawker Chan Soon Heng and his family were among the first to experience the thrill of riding the gleaming new trains.
"It was a very smooth ride and I still feel lucky that my family was there to experience it with me," said Mr Chan.
With three children in tow, he and his wife made their way to Ang Mo Kio MRT station on the historic opening weekend of the North-South Line for their adventure.
The family outing was captured by then Straits Times photographer Michael Liew. It shows a smiling Mr Chan with his two younger daughters, Ren Chun (who later changed her name to Shiqi), six, and Ren Hui, two, in his arms, as he strolls through the MRT gantry. Oldest daughter Ren Tze, eight, looks on while her mother Madam Yeo Sway Moi, 29, is not pictured.
The family hopped off at Toa Payoh to visit relatives. There were only five stops at the time.
"We were all very excited to go on our first train ride alongside other Singaporeans," said Mr Chan in Mandarin, recalling how he had also enjoyed a bird's eye view of Ang Mo Kio. It was the first time they had seen their neighbourhood from a height.
Mr Chan, 62, runs a hawker stall selling fried kway teow and bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) in Toa Payoh Central, and has lived in a three-room flat in Ang Mo Kio since the early 1980s.
Three weeks later, a million rides had been taken.
The country had planned for years to establish an MRT network to complement bus services plying congested roads often plagued by traffic snarls. The idea was first mooted in 1967 to meet population growth demands and in 1982, the Government approved the construction of the $5 billion system.
Since then, the network has mushroomed, and MRT rides have become more of a chore than a novelty to commuters.
To date, Singapore's packed metro network has five lines and more than a hundred stations in operation, and continues to expand to serve the 5.4 million-and-growing population.
But Mr Chan's journey has not changed. He still shuttles between the same two stations like he did all those years ago, and rarely explores other stations and lines.
"It can get a bit confusing... Most of my days off are spent at home resting after a long week of work at the hawker centre," he said.
Said his second daughter, Shiqi: "You can feel the warmth of familial love and bonding through the photo." The administrative assistant, 32, who now has a two-year-old daughter of her own. "It's hard to get everyone together as we grow older so it's nice that this photo captures our early years as a family, watching Singapore progress."
This article was first published on August 7, 2014.
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