Tapah Road (pop. ~7,000) is a small town in

Batang Padang District The Batang Padang District ( ms, Daerah Batang Padang) is a district in Perak, Malaysia. This district is administered by a local council, namely, the Tapah District Council, based in Tapah. The major towns of Batang Padang are Bidor, Tapah and S ...

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The population consists of 40% Muslim Malays, 30% Chinese, 20% Indians and a few indigenous.

History

Tapah Road was of greater importance in early to mid-20th century because of its railway station,

Tapah Road railway station The Tapah Road railway station is a Malaysian railway station stationed at the north eastern side of and named after the town of Tapah Road, Perak. The station is owned by Keretapi Tanah Melayu and provides KTM ETS services. At one end of this sta ...

, which is the second oldest in Malaysia. The station was constructed with a railway to

Teluk Intan Teluk Intan is a town in Hilir Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the district capital and largest town in Hilir Perak district and fourth largest town in the state of Perak with an estimated population of around 172,505, more than half of ...

(Branch Line) in the 1880s. The station was, and still is, linked to the main railway line from

Butterworth Butterworth may refer to: Places * Butterworth (ancient township), a former township centred on Milnrow, in the then Parish of Rochdale, England, United Kingdom * Butterworth, Eastern Cape, now also known as Gcuwa, a town located in South Africa ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Tapah Road was considered a major stop because it was the gateway to

Cameron Highlands The Cameron Highlands ( ms, Tanah Tinggi Cameron, , ta, கேமரன் மலை) is a district in Pahang, Malaysia, occupying an area of . To the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan; to the west, it shares part of its border with ...

, the cold highland resort which was popular with the British colonial officers. The town became relatively less important in terms of economic activities in the region as road vehicles gained popularity beginning in the 1970s. The train service between Tapah Road and Teluk Intan had been terminated in 1991 and most of the railtrack is no longer in place. Tapah Road railway station was rebuilt in 2007 as part of the

duplication Duplication, duplicate, and duplicator may refer to: Biology and genetics * Gene duplication, a process which can result in free mutation * Chromosomal duplication, which can cause Bloom and Rett syndrome * Polyploidy, a phenomenon also known ...

and

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the main railway line. It is now served by the

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Ipoh , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak , pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth , pushpin_mapsize = 275px , pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia , coordinates ...

Electric Train Service The KTM ETS (commercially known as ETS, short for 'Electric Train Service') is an inter-city rail passenger service operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) using electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains. The KTM ETS is the second electric train service ...

(ETS) and the Kuala Lumpur-Butterworth

KTM Intercity KTM Intercity ( ms, KTM Antarabandar) 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 S ...

. The town is on the road leading to Tapah and thus led to its name. This name has drawn some criticism from local Malay linguists because it has a colonial 'stain' on it. A number of towns in Perak also have this 'stain' such as

Slim River Slim River ( Jawi: سليم ريۏر; zh, 仕林河; Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Mal ...

, Port Weld (now Kuala Sepetang) and Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan). Tapah Road maintained its name because the equivalent version in Malay ('Jalan Tapah') is also not suitable because it is not named after a road, but a town.

Economic activities

The town is now gaining significance because a large prison was built about from the town in 2001. The prison is the largest in Perak and a small township has been spawned near the prison to cater for the prison staff and visitors. There are three primary schools and a secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Dato' Panglima Perang Kiri) in this town. There are two rows of shops leading to the railway station. An overhead bridge was built (completed in 2005) over the railway lines. There are large oil palm estates near the town leading to Teluk Intan. There also have two big Indian's Kuil and six small Kaliaman kuil in the estate. There are vegetable farms and rubber estates along the road to Tapah. There were a lot of tin mines 30 years ago but not one is in operation now. There was a plan to build a university in this area but it is not known if the project is still on since there is still no evidence of its construction yet.

Transportation

Batang Padang District Towns in Perak {{Perak-geo-stub