KTM West Coast railway line

The KTM West Coast railway line is a main railway line in Malaysia. It runs from Padang Besar close to the Malaysia–Thailand border in Perlis (where it connects with the State Railway of Thailand) to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint in Singapore. Running near parallel to the West Coast and serving the West Coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. The line is owned and used entirely by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). Past Padang Besar, the line continues on to become the Thai Southern Line, which continues up towards Hat Yai and Bangkok.
The 1,151-kilometre line is busier than its east coast counterpart, the East Coast railway line since it is double tracked and electrified for most of its route, and has more services. The line handles a variety of passenger train services such as KTM ETS services, KTM Intercity services, State Railway of Thailand International Express services, KTM Komuter services within the Klang Valley and the George Town Conurbation, and freight trains. Of this total length, more than 759 km is double-tracked and electrified, with the entire line except the Singapore section to be fully double-tracked and eletrified by end 2025.
Major stations on the line include KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur, Butterworth in Penang, Johor Bahru Sentral in the south in Johor and Woodlands Train Checkpoint in Singapore.
The West Coast railway line was developed in stretches on June 1, 1885, with the opening of the Taiping–Port Weld Line, and 1932 when the line opened up to Tanjung Pagar, thus spanning the entire west coast of Peninsular Malaysia from Padang Besar on the Malaysia–Thai border to Singapore. The line began with the construction of branches linking coastal ports with inland tin mining areas before they were gradually linked up by the main truck line running through the interior of the West Coast states of Peninsular Malaysia.
The latest new lines to be built were the branch lines to West Port, North Port, Tanjung Pelepas, Pasir Gudang and the North Butterworth Container Terminal at the Port of Penang. The trunk line had also seen sections becoming disused, abandoned or even removed, with the latest being the closure and subsequent removal of the southernmost stretch of track between the Woodlands Train Checkpoint and Tanjong Pagar in 2011.
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The West Coast railway line is served by a variety of train services:
After many years of announcements about the intention to upgrade the final stretch of single track of the West Coast Line, the Government began the public display exercise for the Gemas–Johor Bahru electrification and double-tracking project (EDTP) on 27 October 2015. The public display exercise, required for all development of new railways under Section 84 of Malaysia's Land Public Transport Act 2010, ran until 27 January 2016. Chinese company China Railway Construction Company (CRCC) has been awarded to build the Gemas–Johor Bahru electrification and double-tracking project.
The length of the line to be electrified and double-tracked is 197 km between Chainage 563.040 at Gemas to Chainage 754.180 at Johor Bahru. The project includes the construction of 11 stations at Segamat, Genuang, Labis, Bekok, Paloh, Kluang, Mengkibol, Rengam, Layang-Layang, Kulai and Kempas Baru, and 3 future stations at Tenang, Chamek and Senai. The upgraded line is supposed to cater for at least 22 services daily involving KTM ETS, KTM Intercity and shuttle train services. Electrification for the stretch will have the same specifications as that of the Seremban-Gemas stretch, name at 25 kV AC 50 Hz single phase and supplied via an overhead catenary. Train operations for this stretch will be integrated with the Train Control centres at KL Sentral and Gemas. The design speed for the tracks is 160 km/h.
Construction began in 2016 and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2025.
On 15 March 2025, Segamat became the first station on the EDTP to be served by the KTM ETS service, replacing Gemas as the suuthern terminal of the ETS service.
The project was implemented by Keretapi Tanah Melayu began in 2016 and phase 1 is expected to be completed by 2021. The project entails the rehabilitation of 42 km of tracks between Rawang and Salak Selatan as well as Sentul and Simpang Batu. This will focus on enhancing 16 stations along these routes and upgrade the existing signalling and electrification system. This will be reduced to just seven-and-a-half minutes once the KVDT is completed.
The 42km rehabilitation under Phase I, which are:
Phase II is from Simpang Bangsar - Pelabuhan Klang and Salak Selatan - Seremban.
The West Coast main trunk line stretches from Padang Besar on the Malaysia–Thailand border to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint in Singapore.
The main trunk line is double-tracked and electrified from Padang Besar to Segamat. From Segamat to Johor Bahru Sentral, the line is single-tracked and not electrified in some parts. Loops at stations allow trains to pass. Double tracking and electrification works are nearing completion. The line between Johor Bahru Sentral and the Woodlands Train Checkpoint will remain single-tracked and not electrified.
The West Coast railway line connects with the State Railway of Thailand at Padang Besar, while the East Coast line branches off at Gemas.
The West Coast railway line includes several branch lines from the main trunk line, namely:
The Bukit Mertajam Junction to Butterworth, Batu Junction to Batu Caves, Port Klang Junction to Port Klang station, as well as the branch line to Terminal Skypark is double tracked and electrified.
The line from Port Klang to Westport and its shipping terminals, as well as the branch lines between Skudai Junction and the Port of Tanjung Pelepas and the Kempas Baru and Pasir Gudang are single lines and not electrified.
There are also branch lines where the tracks exist but are not used for any service or closed are:
None of these disused branch lines are double tracked nor electrified.