Scenic route
North Borneo Railway
Kota Kinabalu → Papar · Malaysia
- Distance
- 35 km
- Fastest time
- 1 h 45 min
- Top speed
- 40 km/h
- Operator
- Sutera Harbour & Sabah State Railway
- Train
- Wood-fired 1954 Vulcan 2-6-2 steam locomotive, colonial-green carriages
- Countries
- Malaysia
- In service since
- 2000
- Runs
- 2× weekly (Wed & Sat)
A 1954 Vulcan Foundry engine burning jungle firewood retraces the 1896 British North Borneo line — the only passenger railway corridor on Borneo.
Sabah’s railway opened in 1896 to haul tobacco and rubber out of British North Borneo, and this heritage revival, launched in January 2000, keeps the ritual intact: a wood-fired Vulcan locomotive of 1954, cream-and-green carriages and tiffin lunches served at wicker seats. The half-day run drifts out of Tanjung Aru past stilt villages and mangrove creeks to the rice-bowl town of Papar before steaming home. It is the only passenger railway on the island of Borneo.
Along the way
- Tanjung Aru’s colonial-style station
- South China Sea shoreline at Kinarut
- Mangrove creeks near Kawang
- Papar rice-bowl paddies
- Papar wet market stroll
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