page_title: Batu Arang
hierarchical_section_title: Batu Arang
caption_attribution_description: English: A monument that are the replica of chimney was erected on the roundabout in Batu Arang and the monument written "Batu Arang Heritage Town"
context_page_description: Batu Arang is a town in Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is about 50 km from Kuala Lumpur. Coal was first discovered in 1908. British authorities found that the area had large deposits of coal reserves that could be commercially viable and fuel a railway system. Hence, British authorities established mining operations here and the town was established. A railway system linking Batu Arang and Kuang was built in 1915 to transport coal to the rest of the country. As coal output and demand increased, rail service to and from Kuala Lumpur increased. The demand for coal from Batu Arang skyrocketed due to the First World War, which led to a reduction of coal imports. The local coal was frequently sold to the railway companies, power stations, tin mines dredges, and end customers.
  During World War II, British authorities halted mining machinery and destroyed the electric power station and main sub-station in 1942 while Japanese is approaching to Batu Arang. When Japanese occupied Batu Arang, the Japanese repaired damaged types of equipment and hire more people to mine coals.
context_section_description: Batu Arang is a town in Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is about 50 km from Kuala Lumpur. Coal was first discovered in 1908. British authorities found that the area had large deposits of coal reserves that could be commercially viable and fuel a railway system. Hence, British authorities established mining operations here and the town was established. A railway system linking Batu Arang and Kuang was built in 1915 to transport coal to the rest of the country. As coal output and demand increased, rail service to and from Kuala Lumpur increased. The demand for coal from Batu Arang skyrocketed due to the First World War, which led to a reduction of coal imports. The local coal was frequently sold to the railway companies, power stations, tin mines dredges, and end customers.
  During World War II, British authorities halted mining machinery and destroyed the electric power station and main sub-station in 1942 while Japanese is approaching to Batu Arang. When Japanese occupied Batu Arang, the Japanese repaired damaged types of equipment and hire more people to mine coals. However, their mining methods have left a devastating effect on coal mine where they only focused on surface mining instead of mining in both surface and underground areas. When Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, Malayan Collieries resume the coal mining activity, but faced with various issues such as improper mining methods by Japanese, delayed delivery for the new equipment, labor strikes, fire, floods, increasing operation cost, rising prices of coal and competition with petroleum which are cheaper price and better alternative to coal. These issues have led to permanent closure of coal mine on January 30, 1960.
  The closure of coal mine has led to many miners and workers moving out of town and causes many buildings left to ruins, coal mine filled with water, lands facing soil erosion, and the railway lines from Kuang has dismantled, effectively ended railway service in Batu Arang. Despite this, there are few residents who continued to live in this town, and shops, facilities, and amenities continued to operate today. On October 16, 2011, the town celebrates 100 years of town establishment, while at the same time the town was granted heritage town status to boost economic prospects of town residents and make it one of the important tourist attractions in Selangor.
caption: A monument regarding heritage town status on a roundabout
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2448", "Image Model": "TA-1053", "Image ImageLength": "3264", "Image Software": "HDR+ 1.0.177624884n", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2019:08:18 08:52:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "229", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image Make": "Google", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "153", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "204", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "18175", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5722", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "101", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF FNumber": "2", "EXIF ExposureTime": "231/125000", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "561922", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "561922", "EXIF SubSecTime": "561922", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF FocalLength": "357/100", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "1343/1000", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "18015", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:08:18 08:52:53", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3264", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:08:18 08:52:53", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "607/100", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2448", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "227/25", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100"}