Train Derailment In Borneo Interior: 2 Killed

Jaxon S — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:34:15 +0000

Two people were killed and dozens others injured when a Borneo Railway slipped off track due to landslip and plunged into the Padas River in Tenom in the interior of Sabah.

Photo by The New Straits Times Press.

Here’s a report by The Star newspaper on the incident:

Two Killed In Train Plunge
The Star

KOTA KINABALU: A normally-serene journey in interior Sabah turned into a nightmare for 41 people when a train plunged into the fast-flowing Padas River, killing two passengers.

Four others on board the two-carriage train were injured as passengers scrambled up a steep slope in the tragedy that occurred after a landslip in Kampung Pangi near Tenom, about 170km from here.

Police have identified the two dead as a local woman from Kg Melalap in Tenom and a Timorese man.

Tenom OCPD Deputy Supt Mazlan Lazim said both were believed to have drowned while trying to swim out of the train.

He said they still needed verification from relatives as identity documents were found separately. The identities of the four injured have been determined.

“One moment we were enjoying the river scenery, the next minute our carriage plunged,” said housewife Bunga Gumba, 55, who was on board the train heading from Tenom to Beaufort at about 3.15pm.

Fellow passenger Anggang Buntong, 35, said the passengers were screaming as the carriage slid down the 10m slope. They jumped out from windows and doors when it came to a halt just above the water’s edge.

Another passenger, Masanah Saravah, 20, said she saw people scrambling out as the first carriage was tipped into the river.

One of the two locomotive drivers and three passengers were seriously injured and are now warded at the Tenom hospital while 28 other passengers were treated for slight injuries.

According to DSP Mazlan, the landslip caused the disaster.

“As the train was passing the stretch, we believe soil and boulders pushed the train off the tracks and down the slope into the river,” he added.

DSP Mazlan said the engine and the first carriage ended up in the water while the second carriage landed along the steep bank.

“We accounted for all 41 paying passengers and have no report of other missing people,” he said, dismissing claims that as many as 30 others could have been “hitchhiking” on the train.

Sabah Railway Department director James Wong said there were 41 paying passengers on board.

In an immediate statement, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman ordered a thorough investigation.

“I want a full probe,” he said, in extending his condolences to the families of victims and promising to provide whatever assistance possible.

He also ordered the state Infrastructure Development Ministry to check the tracks of the entire route before Sabah Railways resumes service.

The only railway service in Borneo is in Sabah between Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu and the indigenous Murut heartland of Tenom.

Coming soon: My first train ride on Borneo Railway.

Qinghai-Tibet Train Builder To Construct Railway On Borneo Island?

Jaxon S — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:05:41 +0000

China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corporation has been invited to conduct a feasibility study on an ambitious plan to build statewide railway lines in Sabah, the Malaysian state on the northern part of Borneo Island.

If the name of the company does not ring a bell to you, this piece of information might: South China Locomotive is one of the companies involved in the construction of the world’s highest railway project, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway,

[A train chugging through Tibet terrain on the world's highest railway track. Imagine similar train on Borneo railway lines with Mount Kinabalu in the background.]

According to a report by The Star newspaper, the Sabah state government had tasked a consultant firm to liaise with the Chinese railway and fleet builder for the proposed feasibility study.

The report did not say whether China South Locomotive had agreed to carry out the study or whether it was interested to pursue the project.

Railway, key transport and logistics component

Sabah’s Infrastructure Development Minister Raymond Tan said in the report that, “The railway is a key component in the transport and logistics sector.”

“We cannot afford to neglect it,” he told the media after meeting top officials from the company in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah.

Relic of colonial past

Sabah already has a 134km railway track — which is a nearly 100-year-old relic of the colonial past — stretching from Tanjung Aru, near Kota Kinabalu to Tenom in the interior.

In fact, the state-run railway service, is the only railway line on the whole of Borneo island.

Aeroport hub

In line with the plan to expand the existing railway line, the state government would build a modern railway terminal, costing RM600 million which will have facilities like shopping arcades, hotels and an art gallery when completed in five years.

Hmm… a RM600 million facility that will take five years to complete? Didn’t it sound like leaving plenty of rooms for cost overruns?

If Genting can build a SGD$5.2 billion or RM11.9 billion ultra modern Resort World at Sentosa (picture below) in just three years… oh, well.

Anyway, Tan said, “The whole idea of the Aeroport project is basically to create a transport hub for Sabah where one can get connected to almost every part of Sabah through various modes of transportation.”

Borneo Blog » Borneo Railway

Train Derailment In Borneo Interior: 2 Killed

Qinghai-Tibet Train Builder To Construct Railway On Borneo Island?