Malaysia
Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories in two separate halves, divided by the South China Sea: Peninsular Malaysia, which shares a land border with Thailand, and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo, alongside Brunei and Indonesia. Some 34 million people live in the two together. Kuala Lumpur is the national capital and largest city, with Putrajaya as the administrative one.
The railways are very largely a peninsular affair. KTM runs sleek electric intercity trains up the developed west coast from Johor Bahru through Kuala Lumpur toward the Thai border, and a much slower metre-gauge line through the rainforest and limestone country of the interior, where some of the villages it serves have no road at all. Borneo has a single railway of its own and no more. Fares are low, the country is an easy one to travel, and the contrast between those two kinds of line is much of the pleasure of it.
Rail journeys in Malaysia
Jungle Railway
527 km up the middle of Malaysia — rainforest, limestone towers and villages with no road, on a train that still works as the local bus.
View journey →
Sabah State Railway
The only railway on the island of Borneo — 134 km of metre gauge built for tobacco in 1898, still running a railcar through the Padas Gorge.
View journey →Good to know
Is Malaysia easy to explore by train?
The west coast is: KTM's electric intercity trains run Johor Bahru–Kuala Lumpur–Ipoh– Butterworth quickly and cheaply, and connect to Singapore and towards Thailand. The interior is a different proposition — the Jungle Railway is slow by design, and that is exactly why people ride it.
Do I need to book Malaysian trains in advance?
For the west-coast ETS services and the Jungle Railway's overnight sleeper, yes — especially around Hari Raya, when the whole country travels. The Eastern & Oriental Express is another matter entirely: an all-inclusive package booked months ahead through Belmond.
When is the best time to visit Malaysia by rail?
Trains run year-round, but the timing that matters is the north-east monsoon, roughly November to February, which soaks the east coast and the interior — precisely where the Jungle Railway goes. March to September is drier there, and the same window is the safer one for the Sabah State Railway, where heavy rain in the Padas Gorge means landslips and landslips mean no train. The west coast is much less seasonal.
What are Malaysia's best scenic railways?
The Jungle Railway through the interior is the great one — rainforest, karst towers at Gua Musang and a train that still functions as a village bus. The Eastern & Oriental Express is the luxurious counterpoint. And over in Borneo the Sabah State Railway — the only railway on the island — runs inland from the coast through the Padas Gorge, which is as dramatic as anything on the peninsula.