SARAWAK and the federal government will soon be conducting a feasibility study for a trans-Borneo railway network that would traverse the third largest island in the world, the permanent secretary to the Sarawak Transport Ministry Alice Jawan Empaling said.

In discussions at the plenary session on green mobility powered by renewables at the just-concluded Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum (Saref) 3.0 in Kuching, Jawan said the study is expected to be held next year.

She said the primary focus of the study is to develop a goods-and-passengers rail network in Sarawak and later “the possibility of extending that network to the entire Borneo (island)”.

It is to link the major cities in Sarawak, Kalimantan, Brunei and Sabah.

At present, the only passenger railway service in Borneo is the Sabah State Railway.

Alice also said that the ongoing Sarawak transport conference also discussed the trans-Borneo network.

She said the discussion was for a loop line to the south of Kalimantan and onward to the new Indonesian administrative capital Nusantara.

The trans-Borneo network could integrate into the 1,400km Kalimantan rail network plan Indonesia had reportedly drawn up to serve its major cities from Banjarmasin to Singkawang and developing the network from the coal mining areas to its seaports.

Alice said the trans-Borneo train would make up part of the state’s integrated transport system that is “accessible to everyone, sustainable and a catalyst for economic growth and better quality of life”.

Just like the autonomous rapid transit transport system in Kuching, the trans-Borneo trains would also be adopting zero-carbon emission engines. – September 8, 2023.