Freight train in Malaysia are largely consist of container trains. But there were some occasional fuel, chemical, and cement train running around their network.
Freight train number is not like what it used to be. Strong competition with trucks and motorcycles (!), had forced Malaysian State railway to rationalize its freight operation.
As a result, the majority of freght train in Malaysia are container trains. And all of them acted as a 'land bridge', to transfer the containers between the ports. Mostly from southern port Johor Bahru to Butterworth in far North.
Such effort did paid dividend. And now they could modernized its freight operation, and able to purchase big locomotives like the world famous 'Blue Tiger' locomotive.
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A small Alco YDM loco is working on a short freight train through Bandar Tasik Selatan. Bandar Tasik Selatan Station is a good spot to take train photos, becauseof its safe and photogenic location. And it is also a meeting point between KTM, Star and ERL lines. |
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A close up view of YDM loco in Jalan Kastam station. It is a rather unique experience to be able to capture this image in Malaysia, despite of tight restriction which forbid oridnary people to walk on railway line and taking train pictures. But in Jalan Kastam station, those things can be done easily, due to relaxed security, and rather remote location. |
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A further view of the same locomotive. YDM locomotive was imported from India several years ago. And they were surplus from Indian State Railway, when the company decided to close or regauge their metre gauge network. |
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A YDM loco is seen pulling a ballast train in Serdang station. YDM was built in India under licence from Alco in united States. But when Alco went bankrupt in 1960s, the Indian decided to continue to build their own Alcos. |
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A Blue tiger locomotive sit idle at Jalan Kastam Station with its engine off. The Malaysian state Railway did actually receive this locomotive from German government, as a payment for their palm oil, which was exported to Germany from Malaysia. Therefore, they didn't purchase this locomotive. They just receive it! |
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A close up look of Blue Tiger locomotive in Jalan Kastam. This view shows the Blue Tiger's massive size, which is unique for a metre gauge line. Yet, this loco is also the largest in South East Asia, despite some countries adopted a wider gauges. |
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Blue Tiger is running light engine, with a YDM loco on its back, through the famed Kuala Lumpur station. Kuala Lumpur station is famous for its Mosque-alike architecture, which blend Moorish and European style architecture. |
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Sentul Workshop viewed from the outside. A derelict class 22 locomotive is squeezed between a Blue Tiger locomotive and a Hyundai-built Electric multiple unit. |
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A pair of brand new Blue Tigers is seen in Sentul Workshop. The locos had just been delivered at night before this photo was taken. A group of German technicians are visible. Sentul workshop is the largest locomotive depo in Malaysia. It is used to maintain and repair all of Malaysian locomotives, and it is also used as storage for disused locomotives. |
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The Blue Tiger number 26112 is photographed at Jalan Kastam station, having just finished its duty pulling a container train from somewhere to Port Klang. The apartement building in the background gave impression as if this photo was taken in downtown area. But the truth is, Jalan Kastam station is actually located on the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur, and the station itself is very quiet when there were no freight activities. |
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A close up look of 26112 'Tanjung Piandang'. |
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An interesting photoshot of Blue Tiger while working on a short freight train, in Bandar Tasik Selatan station. |
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A class 24 locomotive is seen pulling a tanker train through Serdang Station. Compared with YDM or Blue Tiger, nowaday the Class 24 are rarely used on freight train, as they were normally used on passenger trains. |
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A Class 25 locomotive is resting at Jalan Kastam station. Although initially built for commuter train, the platform no.1 in Jalan Kastam Station is rarely used for commuter service. Instead it is used for locomotive stabling point. |
