Malayan Railway History

First Malaya Railway line Taiping- Port Weld

1885 : The first Malaysia’s railway line with distance of 12.8 km is built from Taiping to Port Weld (now known as Kuala Sepetang) during British colonial era to serve main mining area in Larut. Construction of the railway began in 1884 and was completed in 1885. Service began on 1 February 1885, lasting until 1941.

Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR)

1896 : The British created Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR), to jointly managed the initial four major lines built : Taiping – Port Weld , KL – Klang, Port Swettenham extension line, Seremban–Port Dickson line.

1918 : The Government of the Federated Malay States bought over the properties and estates previously under the Singapore Railway for $4,136,000. The assets were renamed under the Federated Malay States Railway (FMSR).

Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malayan Railway Administration)

1948 : Malayan Railway Ordinance 1948 was passed by Malayan Union as its Ordinance No.8 of 1948 and came into effect on 31 Jan 1948. Malayan Railway Administration were created under The Malayan Railway Ordinance 1948 to manage railways previously managed by the states under FMS Railway. Malayan Railway Administration was later renamed as Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM).

Corporatization of Keretapi Tanah Melayu to become Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad

21 Sep 1991 : Railway Act 1991 was tabled and approved by Parliament.

1 Aug 1992 : Dept of Railway (DOR) & Railway Asset Corporation (RAC) was formed under the Railway Act 1991. KTM was corporatized (fully owned by Gov) and was renamed as Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). KTMB serves as solely operator of KTM Railways. RAC hold as asset owner of railway including infrastructure, land, rolling stock, and facilities in KTM railways. DOR is railway regulatory body.

First Electrified Train Commuter Services

1993 : Gov approved the construction of new electrified railway system for KTM Commuter Services.

1994 : The first electrified train system known as Electrified Multiple Unit (EMU) is bought on 1994. 18 set EMU class 81 was bought from manufacturer Janbacher Transport, Austria /Hungary . The Gov awarded the contract to build KL Sentral integrated railway station to a concession company KL Semasa Sentral Sdn Bhd consist of MRCB group in consortium with KTMB.

3 Aug 1995: KTMB start operation of its communter train service with two line Sentul – Port Klang and Rawang - Seremban.

Privatization of KTMB

Aug 1997 : KTMB was managed under Consortium Marak Unggul Sdn Bhd which consists of Renong (50 per cent equity), DRB-Hicom Group (25 per cent), Bolton Properties Bhd (20 per cent) and Jasa Meta Sdn Bhd (5 per cent) prior to materialized KTMB privatization.

1997: Gov approved KTMB to buy 22 set of EMU class 82 from manufacturer Union Carriage & Wagon, South Africa and another 22 set of EMU class 83 from Hyundai ROTEM, South Korea. KTMB had total of 62 set EMUs for commuter services.

Cancel of privatization of KTMB

2001: Gov decided to put privatization of KTMB on-hold as it was not financially viable. KTMB suffered considerable amount of money losses for commuter and long distance passenger services. Only the freight train service was profitable. Renong group pull back its interest to take over KTMB.

2002: KTMB was put back under internal management.

Strengthening Freight Train Services

2003: Gov approved KTMB to buy 20 nos of German-made Blue Tiger Class 26 locomotives from manufacturer General Electric, Germany





2005: Gov approved KTMB to buy 20 nos of China-made Dalian Class 29 locomotives from China Railway Communication Company Ltd ,China






Public Demand Improvement in Commuter Services

2009: Survey reported that KTMB only left 35 set EMUs can be used for operation. 15 set EMUs will undergo repair work. 4 set involved in catastrophic accidents and the rest cannot be repaired because of technical constraint. MKRC was appointed to repair all available set of EMUs by 2010.