The North Eastern Sabah Railway Line ( ms, Laluan Keretapi Utara Timur Sabah) is a proposed
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
from the city of
Kota Kinabalu
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = From top, left to right, bottom:Kota Kinabalu skyline, Wawasan intersection, Tun Mustapha Tower, Kota Kinabalu Coastal Highway, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, the Wism ...
that would connect
Kudat
Kudat ( ms, Pekan Kudat) is the capital of the Kudat District in the Kudat Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 29,025 in 2010. It is located on the Kudat Peninsula, about north of Kota Kinabalu, the state cap ...
,
Sandakan
Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
and
Tawau
Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...
as part of the
Sabah State Railway
Sabah State Railway (SSR) is a railway system and operator in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. It is the only rail transport system operating on the island of Borneo. The railway consists of a single 134-kilometre line from Tanjung Aru, Kota Kina ...
line extension plan. The plan was supported by the Malaysian federal government represented by Transport Minister
Liow Tiong Lai
Tan Sri Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai (; born 13 October 1961) is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Transport, Minister of Health, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Pr ...
on 17 September 2015. On 21 March 2017, the study to establish the line to Kudat started, with around
RM1 million being allocated.
Until 2021, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister
Bung Mokhtar Radin
Datuk Seri Panglima Bung Moktar bin Radin (born 14 September 1958) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Deputy Chief Minister I and State Minister of Works of Sabah from 2020 to 2023. He has also served as the Member of Parliamen ...
explained that the proposed line was still in the planning stage with the study to be implemented by the following year, in 2022.
Expansion proposal and connection of Borneo railway systems
Once the project is complete, there is also a proposal to connect the rail networks of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia with the provinces of
Kalimantan in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
that will be called the "Trans-Borneo Railway", as Indonesia is currently developing the railway network on its side.
See also
*
Western Sabah Railway Line
The Western Sabah Railway Line ( ms, Laluan Keretapi Barat Sabah) in Sabah, Malaysia is the name given to rail services that operate from Tanjung Aru until Tenom in the West Coast and Interior divisions under the management of Sabah State Rail ...
*
Rail transport in Malaysia
Rail transport in Malaysia consists of heavy rail (including commuter rail), light rapid transit (LRT), mass rapid transit
(MRT), monorails, airport rail links and a funicular railway line. Heavy rail is mostly used for intercity passenger and ...
References
{{Rail transport in Malaysia
Proposed rail infrastructure in Malaysia