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Train Spotting – Malaysia

For my train spotting follows, here are a few pictures of the main West Coast line in Malaysia, taken at the Bukit Mertajam station.

The heavy rail system mostly carries freight and runs on narrow gauge tracks, that is track of 1,000 mm or 3 ft 3+38 in, compared to standard gauge tracks of 1,435 mm or 4 ft 8+12 in.


Malaysian Freight Engine in Bukit Mertajam station. Narrow gauge track

Being much narrower, the trains seems ready to topple over at any time to me.


Malaysian Freight Train TG Piandang 26112, Bukit Mertajam

The Malaysian Peninsular railway also links into the Thai State Rail System, a wonderful journey I took in the 1980’s from Bangkok down into Malaysia, over twenty-four hours, with wonderful views of paddy fields, temples, tropical scenes to dream about, all undertaken at a very slow speed.

At the moment there is mostly a single track laid, but this is in the process of being upgraded to a dual track arrangement.