Johor Bahru Sentral (also known as JB Sentral) is an integrated
transport hub
A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...
in Bukit Chagar,
Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Inaugurated on 21 October 2010, it replaced the closed
Johor Bahru railway station located 200m south of it. As part of the
Southern Integrated Gateway
The Southern Integrated Gateway () refers to a complex at Bukit Chagar, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia incorporating the city's main railway station, Johor Bahru Sentral railway station, JB Sentral, and a :customs, :immigration, and quarantine c ...
, it is connected to the
Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex.
Johor Bahru Sentral also was the southern terminus of
KTM Intercity
KTM Intercity () are diesel-hauled intercity train services in Peninsular Malaysia, operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). Services operate along the East Coast Line between Tumpat and Gemas and on towards JB Sentral on the Wes ...
train services to and via ''Ekspres Selatan'' or via ''Ekspres Rakyat Timuran''.
KTM Intercity
KTM Intercity () are diesel-hauled intercity train services in Peninsular Malaysia, operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). Services operate along the East Coast Line between Tumpat and Gemas and on towards JB Sentral on the Wes ...
via ''Shuttle Tebrau'' also served the
Woodlands Train Checkpoint
Woodlands Train Checkpoint (abbreviated as WTCP, also known as Woodlands CIQ) is a railway station and border checkpoint in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands, Singapore. Located close to the Malaysia–Singapore border, the station is owned by Sing ...
in
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
across the
Johor–Singapore Causeway
The Johor–Singapore Causeway is a causeway consisting of a combined railway and motorway crossing that links Malaysia's second largest city of Johor Bahru across the Straits of Johor to the district and town of Woodlands in Singapore. It ...
. However, an
electric train connection at is required for passenger to
KL Sentral
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station (KL Sentral) is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, KL Sentral replaced the old Kuala Lumpur railway station as t ...
, and . The station did not provide any train services from January to June 2022 due to the Gemas-Johor Bahru double-tracking project and services resumed in July 2022 after the new tracks between Johor Bahru and Kempas Baru were ready.
Johor Bahru Sentral serves as the Malaysian immigration checkpoint for southbound rail passengers towards Woodlands. Northbound rail passengers from Woodlands are processed by Malaysian immigration and customs officers at Woodlands Train Checkpoint prior to boarding.
Johor Bahru Sentral is planned to be the main hub for rail and bus transportation in Johor Bahru. It is proposed to be the main station of
KTM ETS
The KTM ETS, commercially known as ETS (Electric Train Service), is an inter-city rail, inter-city higher-speed rail service in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). The KTM ETS is the second electric train service to be operated by t ...
,
KTM Komuter
KTM Komuter is a commuter rail system in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). It was introduced in 1995 to provide local rail services in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley suburban areas. Services were later expanded to o ...
South, Transit Bus Terminal and will be connected to the future
Bukit Chagar RTS and
JB Sentral BRT
BRT may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Bayrak Radio Television, a Turkish Cypriot broadcaster
* Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (now ''VRT''), a Flemish broadcaster
* Business Research and Training Center (BR&T), Ho Chi Minh Cit ...
stations.
Location
Johor Bahru Sentral station is located in the central area of Johor Bahru around Bukit Chagar. Being part of Southern Integrated Gateway, the connection between the CIQ complex and the station is just via the connecting walkway over Jalan Jim Quee to the east and is very near to Johor Causeway where the only train connection to Singapore lies straight to
Woodlands Train Checkpoint
Woodlands Train Checkpoint (abbreviated as WTCP, also known as Woodlands CIQ) is a railway station and border checkpoint in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands, Singapore. Located close to the Malaysia–Singapore border, the station is owned by Sing ...
. It is also connected to City Square shopping complex via walkway over Jalan Tun Razak in the east. Both roads also provide road connections to the station, with Jalan Jim Quee also provide road access for motorcars from/to Singapore as it directly connected to the CIQ complex.
History
Johore Wooden Railway
It was said that the history of Johor railway developments started in the 1869 where
Sultan Abu Bakar (then still Maharaja) officiated construction of Johore Railway, which line are planned to be built northwards towards
Gunung Pulai, 18 miles from the terminus here. While the line was indeed built from Johor Bahru and it has been operating in 1875 for the first 6 miles of construction, it was not clear for what function it serves and if Johor Bahru has a proper station standing here until 1889 where the railway is reported defunct.
Old FMSR era station

The old station of Johor Bahru under Johore State Railway was opened in 1909 in conjunction of completion of the final West Coast main link sector from Gemas to Johor Bahru after a 5 year construction starting in 1904. As there was no land access to Singapore yet at that time, Johor Bahru used to be the southernmost terminus for
Federated Malay State Railways trains in Malay Peninsular states. However FMSR has been running a combined trains and ferry services between both peninsular railway networks and Singapore Government Railways network. Both Johore Government Railways and Singapore Government Railways has been integrated under FMSR administration on 1912.
The station is able to serve services from linked FMSR railways of Malaya especially from West Coast states up to Penang and Pahang to the east from the start, and as FMSR network gradually spread, it later able to serve trains to Kedah, Perlis and Kelantan as well. It later able to serve trains up to Bangkok when FMSR connects to
State Railways of Thailand network via Padang Besar in 1918 and as East Coast sector of Gua Musang completes construction in 1931, the East Coast line has been connected to SRT via Sungai Golok as well.
After
Johore Causeway completed in 1923, trains has been able to serve southward to Tank Road in Singapore. The trains would later terminate at
Tanjong Pagar station in Keppel Road after its opening in 1932. However Johor Bahru has since become one of the main stations of the rail network serving express and mail trains of the railway services especially between the town and Singapore.
Johor Bahru station again becoming the terminus for the networks as
Japanese occupation strikes in 1942 forced British to blow up the Causeway in order to slow down Imperial Japanese Army entry to Singapore, severing the only train connection to Singapore. The connection was restored in 1946 after British control was reinstated in both states. In 1948, Johor Bahru station is now under Malayan Railways and later after independence, the current Keretapi Tanah Melayu.
As politics changed the state of the regions which ultimately made Singapore and Malaya, later Malaysia, two different countries, Johor Bahru station now lies on the international border between the two countries. However local and express trains remains running uninterrupted between the two countries with Johor Bahru station remains an important stop for the trains. For a while in the 1980s, it also serve Railbus service between Kulai and Singapore.
Different from road entries on the causeway, Johor Bahru station which facilitate railway entries between the two countries did not really have any immigration and custom clearance facilities for some decades after first border control between the countries in 1967, as the matters is settled in Tanjong Pagar station instead. But as
1990 Point of Agreement between Malaysia and Singapore are signed and later on the whole disputes about the agreement rose, it forced Johor Bahru station to provide an immigration and customs clearance service for Singapore-bound trains while Malaysia clearance decided to stay in Tanjong Pagar for northbound trains. This practice remains until today, with changes being now Johor Bahru Sentral replaces the Singapore-bound part and Woodlands train checkpoint replaces the Malaysia-bound part after Tanjong Pagar station closes.
This station closes on 21 October 2010 as Johor Bahru Sentral replaces its purpose, with plans is to convert it as a railway museum.
Johor Bahru Sentral
Johor Bahru Sentral is one of the proposed facilities of Malaysia's
Southern Integrated Gateway
The Southern Integrated Gateway () refers to a complex at Bukit Chagar, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia incorporating the city's main railway station, Johor Bahru Sentral railway station, JB Sentral, and a :customs, :immigration, and quarantine c ...
which aims to provide an integrated entry hub for vehicles from Singapore to enter Malaysia via Johor Bahru, with others being a new
Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex and also a new bridge that aims to replace the Causeway. While the bridge plans is cancelled indefinitely, the new CIQ opens in 2008 for vehicular access. The whole project costed RM2.5 billion.
Johor Bahru Sentral was later opened for train services replacing the old station in 21 October 2010 with
Sultan Ibrahim Ismail officiating the opening ceremony, and has since taken over the role as the main station for Johor Bahru. The clearance for Singapore-bound train services is also transferred here.
Although major Intercity trains stopped here in its early years of opening, the station later saw a sharp decrease in passengers as the express services were reduced and later terminated in 2016 for many major West Coast services. Only three trips of ''Ekspres Selatan'' up to Pulau Sebang/Tampin and Gemas (with the current schedule only listed Gemas as the northernmost terminus) and a trip of ''Ekspres Rakyat Timuran'' to Tumpat, Kelantan is being served by this station. Cross-border service is now branded as ''Shuttle Tebrau'', running exclusively between Johor Bahru Sentral and
Woodlands Train Checkpoint
Woodlands Train Checkpoint (abbreviated as WTCP, also known as Woodlands CIQ) is a railway station and border checkpoint in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands, Singapore. Located close to the Malaysia–Singapore border, the station is owned by Sing ...
.
The
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
also affected services, but were gradually restored by 2022. Between January and June 2022, however, the station closed as part of the project to double the railway tracks between Johor Bahru and Gemas. The station reopened in mid-June 2022 with the resumption of ''Shuttle Tebrau'', and both ''Ekspres Selatan'' and ''Ekspres Rakyat Timuran'' returned in July. The double-tracking project is being followed up by electrification of the line between Johor Bahru and Gemas, expected to be complete by 2025. Once operating,
KTM ETS
The KTM ETS, commercially known as ETS (Electric Train Service), is an inter-city rail, inter-city higher-speed rail service in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). The KTM ETS is the second electric train service to be operated by t ...
will be able to serve this station, allowing for faster travel to Kuala Lumpur and beyond. The station building has been built with this plan in mind, hence no major makeover is necessary as compared to other stations.
Station components
Concourse area (second floor)
The concourse area is a major thoroughfare for pedestrians due to walkways linking it with both the CIQ and the shopping centres on the other side of Jalan Tun Abdul Razak. As such, it contains a tourist information centre, various convenience stores, phone shops, souvenir shops, a
Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...
restaurant and some smaller eateries alongside the waiting area and ticket machines for KTM trains.
Passenger and platform areas (first and ground floor)
These two floors are for KTM passengers only; tickets are checked on the second floor before admittance. The first floor is split between a waiting area for KTM Intercity passengers (entered from Gate B), and a Malaysia customs and immigration clearance area for Shuttle Tebrau passengers (entered from Gate A).
The station has 6 platforms in 3 island-platform formation, but only 4 platforms are in use. Platforms 1 and 2 serve KTM Intercity trains while Platforms 3 and 4 serve Shuttle Tebrau.
Bus and taxi hubs (ground floor, outside building)
A local bus terminal serving the city areas is located on Jalan Jim Quee side of the station building. Buses to
Kulai
Kulai is a town and the capital of Kulai District, Johor, Malaysia. It is administered by the Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu), which was earlier known as the Kulai District Council.
Kulai is surveyed as one of the happiest cities in Malaysi ...
,
Gelang Patah,
Pasir Gudang
Pasir Gudang is a city located in eastern Johor Bahru District, Johor, which is the second largest district in Malaysia by population. The main industries are transportation and logistics, shipbuilding, petrochemicals and other heavy industries ...
,
Kota Tinggi
Kota Tinggi is a town and capital of Kota Tinggi District, Johor, Malaysia.
Kuala Sedili or Tanjung Sedili, a small fishing town located 37 km north-east of Kota Tinggi town, is the second largest fishing port in east coast of Peninsular ...
,
Larkin Sentral
The Larkin Sentral (formerly Larkin Bus and Taxi Terminal) is a bus terminal located in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. It has direct bus services to and from many cities and towns in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Hat Yai in Thailand. This ...
and
Senai International Airport
Senai International Airport , formerly known as Sultan Ismail International Airport, is an international airport serving Johor Bahru District, Malaysia's second most populous district and other regions in southern Peninsular Malaysia. Located i ...
all call at the terminal. Three Singapore-based cross-border services (160, 170X, 950) also call at this terminal before returning to Singapore - they generally carry few passengers between the CIQ and the bus terminal due to both places being a short walk from each other.
Taxi stands is also available from both sides of the entrances, but cross-border taxis is only limited on Jalan Tun Razak side.
Around the station
*
Johor Bahru City Square
Johor Bahru City Square is a shopping centre and office building close to the Johor–Singapore Causeway which borders the two countries in Wong Ah Fook Street, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
History
The building was opened in 1999. In 2000, t ...
* KTM Museum (formerly as Johor Bahru railway station)
*
Komtar JBCC
*
Persada Johor International Convention Centre
*
Sultan Iskandar Building
The Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI; ) is a border checkpoint, customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) complex in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Located at the northern end of the Johor–Singapore Causeway, it is one of two land ports of entry to ...
See also
*
Kuala Lumpur Sentral station
Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station (KL Sentral) is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, KL Sentral replaced the old Kuala Lumpur railway station as t ...
*
List of bus routes in Johor Bahru
References
External links
KTM Intercity train schedule and fares from and to Johor Bahru Sentral railway station
{{Malaysia border crossings, state=collapsed
KTM ETS railway stations
Railway stations in Malaysia opened in 2010
Southern Integrated Gateway
Malaysia–Singapore border crossings