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By Leslie A K James. AMONG the many attractions of the “Pearl of the Orient”, the Penang Hill Railway is almost unique in Asia and certainly the only one of its kind in South East Asia. This delightful funicular railway uses a simple principle to carry passengers and freight up very steep inclines. A funicular connects two railcars with a cable on a pulley, pulling one car uphill balanced by the second car descending. Funicular railways became popular in European Alpine resorts in the late 19th century. The Peak Tram in operation on Victoria Peak on Hong Kong island since 1888 uses the same technology. The word “funicular” derives from the Latin funiculus (thin rope), diminutive of funis (rope). Penang Hill, really a series of separate hills on a ridge overlooking George Town, was the first hill station to be established not only in Malaysia but dating from the late 18th century possibly the first in all the territories of the English East India Company, even before the more famous hill stations of India such as Simla, Darjeeling and Ootacamund (Ooty). Before the Penang Hill Railway was built, access to the bungalows on Penang Hill was on foot, on horseback, by pony or by dooly (sedan chair) carried by coolies.
The first attempt at constructing a railway on Penang Hill began in 1897 with the formation of the Penang Hills Railway Co Ltd and was not completed until 1906. Powered by a water turbine in a winding house at the bottom of the hill, the venture turned into a fiasco when it literally failed to get off the ground during the inauguration ceremony. A faulty design left the cars immobile on the rails and the project was abandoned. After the First World War plans for a hill railway were resurrected by the government of the Straits Settlements (the former British colony comprising Singapore, Penang and Malacca). Construction of the Penang Hill Railway along the lines of electrically powered funicular railways used in Switzerland was begun in 1920 under the direction of Arnold R Johnson, Senior District Engineer of the Federated Malay States Railways. It cost $1,500,000 (Straits dollars) to build. Work was completed and trains started operations on 21 October 1923. The official opening by Sir Lawrence Guillemard, Governor of the Straits Settlements, took place on New Year’s Day, 1924. In its day the building of the Hill Railway was a major construction and engineering feat. The tracks go almost straight up and down the hill through cuttings, over viaducts and through a tunnel. The total length of the line is almost two kilometres rising to an elevation of 2,381 feet (725 metres) above sea level. The tunnel at a gradient of 1 in 2.04 is 258 feet (78 metres) long. Trains run every half hour and the journey from Lower Station in Ayer Itam to Upper Station takes approximately 30 minutes The original wooden railcars operated a two-class passenger service with the lower end of each railcar reserved for first-class passengers who had the advantage of the best views. These cars were replaced by new models imported from Switzerland in 1979. One of the old cars is on display at Strawberry Hill near Upper Station while two others may be seen at Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur and at the Penang State Museum in George Town. The whereabouts of the fourth car remains a mystery. According to a history of Penang published by the city council of George Town in 1966, the Penang Hill Railway was found to be in tolerable working order at the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945. Although Penang suffered along with the rest of Malaya during the occupation, “the one thing the Japanese really approved of and cherished” was the Hill Railway and they even replaced the upper section of the cable in 1942. The authors of the city council history speculated that the Penang Hill Railway may have reminded them of the funiculars to be found in Japan. Built in two independent sections with two railcars on each section, the Penang Hill Railway is really two separate funicular railways linked by a common station – Middle Station – where passengers transfer between trains to continue their journey up or down the Hill. There are other stations and halts where the trains may stop on request. As these stops are asymmetrically placed, stopping at one can result in the corresponding car stopping “in the middle of nowhere” much to the surprise and even alarm of first-time passengers. With quaint names like Claremont (named after a nearby bungalow), Moniot Road (recalling a Frenchman who surveyed one of the first tracks on Penang Hill), Viaduct, Lower Tunnel and Upper Tunnel, the little stations and halts add to the charm of the funicular railway journey that provides glimpses of handsome heritage bungalows from days gone by as well as spectacular views of George Town, Penang Harbour and the Bridge and, on haze-free days, the distant mountains of the mainland. The rewards at the top include further panoramic views, food-stalls and walks in the cool hill air. Plans by the local authorities to restore some of the historic state-owned bungalows on Penang Hill for the use and enjoyment of visitors are to be encouraged and applauded. ** Reproduced with permission from the author. This article first appeared in the Volume 2, May 2005 issue of The Expat.
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