Railway Tourism in Peninsular Malaysia

Almost every state in Peninsular Malaysia are connected with railway which operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). In the West Coast its started from Padang Besar, Perlis in the Northern Border with Thailand and ended in Johor Bahru, Johor in South border with Singapore. The railway line continue until Woodlands Station in Singapore, previously until Tanjung Pagar Station. For East Coast, railway line started from Gemas, Negeri Sembilan until Tumpat, Kelantan.

Places of interest in Kedah.

Railway line in Peninsular Malaysia running through city, rural area, deep forest and plantation area including oil palm trees, rubber estate and paddy field.There are several places of interest can be reach using the train. For some other places, another public transport which can be found near railway station can be used.

A scenic view of paddy field as the train running through.

There are two categories of train, which are passenger train and freight train. Passenger train running from Southern boundary with Singapore to both West Coast and East Coast line, including daily international express train from Butterworh to Bangkok. Freight train is a famous cargo transportation from/to port in Peninsular Malaysia such as Port Klang in Selangor and Butterworth Port in Penang.

Freight train, among popular cargo transportation.

Most of the railway in Malaysia today still using single track which is used for both up and down train except railway line from Ipoh to Seremban which was upgraded to electrified double track. For single track, key token is used for train to enter the block section between two station. This means only one train can occupy the line between two station to avoid trains coming from both direction.

Token handing over- present system for train block section.

Malaysian government are now in the progress to upgrade the existing single track to double track electrified railway line in Peninsular Malaysia. Railway line between Ipoh to Padang Besar and from Seremban to Gemas are now in the progress of the upgrading which involved multi billion ringgit cost.

Electrified double track project in progress.