Tapah Road Station, One of the Oldest Railway Stations in Malaysia

The history of our country's railway system began during the British colonial era, as these lines were originally built to transport tin.

The British colonial administration at the time focused on infrastructure development, particularly transportation in Malaya. In addition to railway development, the British also built roads and opened ports for local economic development. Everything began in 1882, when construction work on the track connecting Port Swettenham to Kuala Lumpur was started by the firm Hill and Rathbone. Arthur Spence Moss was the engineer appointed to lead this railway line and track construction project. The construction of this track was completed and officially put into use on September 15, 1886. Perhaps many are unaware that the Tapah Road Railway Station is among the oldest railway stations in Malaysia. It was built between 1880 and 1885, and this railway line was the second to be opened in Malaya after the line from Taiping to Port Weld. The opening of this station subsequently paved the way to Melaka and Singapore.

On May 18, 1893, the railway line from Tapah Road to Telok Anson (Teluk Intan) was inaugurated by the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, in a grand ceremony. Also present at the inauguration was Frank Swettenham, who was the Resident of Perak (the 3rd British Resident in Perak). Initially, the construction contract for the Tapah Road to Teluk Intan line was cancelled due to geographical obstacles between the two locations.

However, two Perak State Railway engineers—Spence Moss, the Railway Consulting Engineer, and local Railway Engineer T. Scott Gardner—took the initiative to find alternative solutions to continue the construction. Finally, in 1893, the Tapah Road to Teluk Intan railway line was completed.

Once this railway track was built, it provided benefits by connecting several more lines from Tapah Road. The line to Talam was completed a year later in 1895, while the Tapah Road to Tanjung Malim line was built in 1899, and the Tapah Road to Bidor line in 1902.

In March 2007, a new railway station was built at Tapah Road to replace the previous one. After 125 years of service, the old railway station building still stands and has been repurposed for railway administrative offices, such as the Auxiliary Police, Property, Signaling, and Track Management offices.