The Sarawak Railway Line is a proposed project by the

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malay ...

to establishing a railway network in the state of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

. In 2008, it was reported the project will be ready in 2015 but still no signs of development by the government until present.

History

Together with its neighbour of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

, Sarawak once had a small railway line, about 10 miles (16 km) long serving the region of Kuching, providing cargo and passenger services. It was opened in August 1915 and was ordered closed in 1931 due to financial losses, amidst the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. In the following years it was used occasionally to haul stone from the quarry at the 10th mile of the line, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was taken over by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The line was finally closed in 1947; the tracks were sold for scrap in Singapore in 1959. During operation, the passenger coaches were acquired from

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

while the goods wagons were bought second-hand from FMSR. To date, Sarawak, as Malaysia's largest state by area, has no rail transport. In the modern days, the Malaysian government is planning to revive the Sarawak railway system back beside upgrading the rail network in Sabah.

Expansion proposal and connection of Borneo railway systems

Once if the project is complete, there is also a proposal to connecting the rail networks of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia with the provinces of

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

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 as "Trans-Borneo Railway", as Indonesia were currently developing the railway network on their side.

References

{{coord missing, Malaysia Proposed rail infrastructure in Malaysia

History

Expansion proposal and connection of Borneo railway systems

See also

References