Construction of the then North Borneo Railway began in 1896 under the command of civil engineer Arthur J. West. It was originally intended primarily for the transport of tobacco from the interior to the coast for export. The first line built was a 32km track from Bukau River, north to Beaufort, and south to the port of Weston. This was then extended with a further 48km route in 1903 to Tenom, the works for which was completed in 1905. The line was extended again in 1906 with a further 16km from Tenom to Melalap.
At the same time as this work, was work on another line from Beaufort to Jesselton) (now known as Kota Kinabalu) which was completed in 1903, running mostly near or beside the coast. With the completion of these works the network routes covered some 193km. However the network was almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War.
In 1949 then North Borneo Railway embarked on an ambitious programme to rehabilitate the network and improve service, and once again in 1960. However in 1963 the decision was taken to close the Weston branch line, and in 1970 the Melalap extension from Tenom was also closed to traffic. The high costs of operation of the lesser used routes and the competition from the many new built roads made their situation increasingly untenable. In 1974 the main part of the line was also cut from Kota Kinabalu back to Tanjung Aru.
The line has been closed during 2007 for maintenance and repair. Papar to Beaufort is expected to be open end of 2007 and Papar to Tanjung Aru in May 2008. There are no updates from the Sabah National Railway, but the Leisure Train Company, 'North Borneo Railway' does mention this on their website.
(Article is taken from Wikipedia:Sabah State Railway)
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