134 stops, 6 lines: Brothers spend 9 hours visiting almost all the MRT stations in Singapore

Singapore is known for its extensive and well-connected transport system that stretches across the island. 

Ever wondered if it's possible to visit most, if not all, of the MRT stations here in under one day? 

Filipino brothers Cal and Raef Galicia decided to try just that. 

They challenged themselves to do so on Dec 21, 2023 and posted a video of their experience on YouTube in June. 

"There are 134 MRT stations in Singapore and today, my brother and I are going to visit every single one," Cal said at the start of the video, calling it 'The Singapore MRT 100 Per Cent Speedrun'. 

"Yes, it's six lines, yes, it's over 200km long. And yes, it might take the whole day." 

They also added a disclaimer that they had filmed the video before the seven new stations had opened along the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), which meant that they had not actually visited all the MRT stations in Singapore.

Before embarking on their tedious journey, they created a rule for themselves. 

"At every station, we're going to get a photo under the name of the station so that you know we're not cheating," Cal explained.

They also printed out a large picture of the MRT system map so they could pin these photos on them. 

They started their adventure along the East-West Line at Tuas Link, which took around one hour and 51 minutes.

As the train was above ground, this ride was scenic and the boys even managed to see bits of Malaysia along the way. 

They then made their first transfer to the next line, boarding the train from Changi Airport to begin their journey on the Downtown line.

They completed this part of their journey in around one hour, ending off at Bukit Panjang station.

After which, they exited the station to take an LRT to Choa Chu Kang station, where they then began their trip along the North-Sound Line. 

Understandably, it was a tedious journey, and the boys entertained themselves by dancing and posing in front of the camera. 

They had also been in the train system for so long that they got to watch the sunset around the four-hour mark of their adventure.

Finally, they reached the end of the North-South Line, Marina South Pier station. 

"That took almost an hour to do," said Cal. 

They then switched to the Circle Line and then the North-East Line.

Six hours into the challenge, along the North-East Line, Cal commented: "You could go to Japan in the time it takes for us to do all this". [M: Tweaked by Mel]

The duo then switched back to the Circle Line a few stops later, looking exhausted. 

"It's like a whole school day of just being on the MRT," Cal said. 

"This isn't just like going to every MRT station. This is an endurance challenge," added Raef.

They were getting closer to the end and, more than eight hours into the challenge, they had completed a whopping 129 stations. 

But amid their epic feat, they realised they had made a mistake—they had forgotten to take a picture at Mayflower station. 

"We messed up—that's going to be a part of the video," said Cal. 

So they went back to the station, snapped a quick picture and continued the rest of their journey. 

Finally, after eight hours and 56 minutes, they were at their final station—Woodland North. This marked a remarkable 134 stops in total.

They stopped the time when the door opened and took their final photo. 

On the way back home after a long day, Cal asked Raef: "How do you feel? We're done." 

To that, Raef said: "I cannot believe it's been nine hours." 

In the comments, fascinated netizens praised the boys' efforts. 

One said that it was amazing how they managed to turn something so "mundane and dreadful" into something entertaining. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Cal and Raef shared that the experience was "tedious". 

"Every station we get in and get out, there's not a whole lot of time to relax. If we did relax, we'd miss a stop—like we did with Mayflower," they shared. 

"There's a lot of backtracking we had to do in order to get every station."

While they boys think they've already found the "most optimal route", they're curious if anyone can find a better one. 

"We're interested to see others try and improve it," they said. 

Cal and Raef also don't intend to redo the entire experience because of the new lines on the Thomson-East Coast Line. 

"Neither of us live in Singapore anymore and also, the [new stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line] would completely balloon the time as it doesn’t connect to the blue or green lines at Changi Airport yet.

Another said that while travelling "200km in a nation with a diameter of 50km" is a "stupid concept", he loved the idea. 

One emotional millennial thanked the boys for the video as it made them realise time is a luxury for adults like themselves. 

There was also a netizen who shared that it has been his "childhood dream" to cover all the MRT stations in Singapore. 

He added that the video showed Singapore has come so far from just two MRT lines to multiple lines across the island. 

ALSO READ: Group of friends journey across Singapore on foot

melissateo@asiaone.com