Malayan Railway 100 Years

Malayan Railway 100 Years

Date of Issue: 1985-06-01
Denominations: 15 cents, 20 cents, 80 cents and $1.00
Stamp Size: 25.6mm x 38.4mm
Paper: Unwatermarked
Printing Process: Lithography
Printer: Security Printers (M) Sdn. Bhd. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Composition: 100 stamps
Designer: AMW Communications Management Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur

Stamps in the Series:


First Day Cover:


The Railway in Peninsular Malaysia was built essentially to cater for the country’s economy during the colonial days, to convey tin ore and plantation produce. The first railway line in Peninsular Malaysia was a 13-kilometer track laid from Taiping to Port Weld (now known as Kuala Sepetang) in the year 1884 and was opened to traffic in 1885. This was soon followed by lines linking Kuala Lumpur and Klang, Seremban and Port Dickson, Tapah Road and Teluk Anson (now known as Teluk Intan). From these beginnings were developed the various state railways which were amalgamated in 1901 to form the Federated Malay States Railways.

Today the role of the Railway is oriented not only towards fulfilling the economic needs of the country but also to its social obligations. The objective of the Malayan Railway is to provide safe, economical, reliable, comfortable, efficient and adequate services in accordance with the ever increasing traffic demand.

Presently the Malayan Railway runs 176 trains daily worked by a total of 101 locomotives. There are a total of 280 coaches that are used to run passenger trains and 5,193 freight cars. In the year 1984, Malayan Railways carried a total of 6.6 million passengers earning a revenue of $60 million. The haulage of freight in the same year was approximately 3.3 million tones generating a revenue of $56.2 million.

The Malayan Railways will continue to modernize its services during the Fifth Malaysia Plan (1986 – 1990). Some of its plans include the modernization of the signaling and communications equipment, the improvement to stations and yards for better operation of trains and the computerization of the ticketing and seat reservations and wagon and coach control.

Incorporated in the various projects are training programs for railway employees which will include technical training as well as supervisory and managerial training.

The Malayan Railway has undertaken a long term project to improve the main line between Butterworth and Johore Bahru as well as to construct a double electrified standard gauge track between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bahru via Mentakab, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu. This project when completed will most certainly enable the Malayan Railway to have ample capacity to cater for the growing demand for transport in the future.