The cache is not at the posted coordinates, which lead you to the main entrance of the present-day Nicoll Highway station. This cache however tells the story of another Nicoll Highway station - read on!
Welcome to Nicoll Highway!
Nicoll Highway station is an MRT station on the Circle Line, serving residential and commercial areas in the vicinity. From here, one may ride the MRT conveniently towards the Stadium and Paya Lebar areas, or in the opposite direction towards the city centre. The existing station box lies beneath a field, with the main entrance to the station immediately surrounded by... nothing much in particular.
If you've noticed, however, most underground MRT tunnels and stations in Singapore lie directly beneath a major road. The reason is simple, of course - it is far less logistically complex to realign a road for a few years, dig up the area, then fill it back in when construction is complete - all without having to remove any large or otherwise troublesome-to-remove buildings. So, why's this station not directly beneath Nicoll Highway, then?
The (original) Nicoll Highway Station
The original plans for the station and adjacent tunnels did, in fact, call for them to run directly beneath Nicoll Highway, with entrances on either side of the road, serving the existing buildings on the north side, as well as future developments on the south side.
(Plans for the original Nicoll Highway station - u/Unfair-Bike on reddit)
The Collapse
Unfortunately, the original plans for the station were not to come to fruition. In 2004, a failure of design, engineering and monitoring led to a collapse of the incomplete tunnels which were under construction at the time. In the afternoon of Tuesday, 20 April 2004, a catastrophic cave-in of the construction site occurred near the abutment of the Merdeka Bridge, causing serious damage to Nicoll Highway. Fortuitously, no vehicles were traversing the affected stretch of road at the time of the collapse, but the incident did claim four souls among the workers at the construction site; among those, the remains of one were never recovered.
Learn more about the Nicoll Highway collapse:
The Sacrifice
Among the four victims who suffered fatal injuries was foreman Heng Yeow Pheow, who selflessly led his colleagues to safety during the collapse, while putting his life at risk. Based on survivor accounts, his actions allowed the successful escape of eight workers. He was however unable to make his own escape, and subsequent recovery efforts failed to locate his remains.
A stone on the ground at the site of the collapse functioned as a memorial to Heng for a time. It has since been removed.
A more permanent memorial to Heng, a bench close to his family's home in Tampines, was instated on the tenth anniversary of the collapse. (FB: CNA)
The Aftermath
The collapse, like many other accidents like it, exposed severe shortcomings in industry practices and taught the industry valuable lessons that endure to this day. Construction safety reforms have been put in place that, without a doubt, have contributed to the safe and successful construction of many more underground MRT stations and tunnels in the last two decades.
As for the site here, it was decided that it would be too costly and dangerous to attempt to rebuild, or build around, the damaged tunnels, and so the collapse site was simply backfilled and abandoned. Whatever was still intact, including sections of the original tunnels and the partially-constructed station box, were sealed forever beneath Nicoll Highway, never to be used again. The present-day Nicoll Highway station was constructed about 100m southeast of its original planned location, and opened on 17 April 2010.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Cache
Your task here is relatively simple - using the relevant information in the cache listing, and with reference to the roads and landmarks around you, locate a place where Entrance 1 of the original Nicoll Highway station would have been, had the unfortunate accident not occurred. All the necessary historical information required to find the place is contained in the listing. You are not expected to solve for exact coordinates.
Once there, search for something black on white. Mind your step! BYOP and please return the cache to the exact spot you found it.
About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breathtaking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More information can be found at the SideTracked Website.