Better late than never: can rail still rebalance Malaysia?
From Boo Jia Cher
After decades of car-centric planning, new rail lines offer hope for more connected, human-centred towns and cities.
For decades, Malaysia built itself around highways, cars and the logic of speed over place.
The result is a lopsided nation: Kuala Lumpur dominates as the urban core, itself trapped in a schizophrenic mess of new rail lines alongside endless highways, while secondary cities struggle and countless towns become places you zoom past, not places you stop in.
It’s a story many of us are tired of telling and, perhaps, even more tired of hearing.
But something has shifted.
The recent opening of the new ETS line linking Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur felt different.
For once, the mood wasn’t scepticism or anger, but hope. Social media filled with images of packed trains, families travelling without cars, people marvelling at how fast and comfortable it felt. The vibes, as they say, were good.
It felt like a small but meaningful correction, an admission,…
