Butterworth railway station


The Butterworth railway station is a Malaysian railway station located at and named after the town of Butterworth, Penang.
The station is served by the KTM ETS and the KTM Komuter Northern Sector trains. It previously served as the southern end of the International Express from Bangkok, Thailand, which now ends at Padang Besar.
The station is located near to, and linked via covered pedestrian walkways, the Penang Sentral and the Sultan Abdul Hamid Ferry Terminal for ferries to Penang Island.
The end of the line at this station is "Chainage Zero", and as such, regarded as the starting point of the KTM West Coast Line and also the line to Padang Besar, which is connected to the State Railway of Thailand network. All distances for the two lines are measured from the end of the line here.

History

The station began operations in 1967 when the railway swing bridge over the Perai River was opened, allowing the rail line which had prior to this terminated at Perai, to continue to Butterworth.
Before the railway line was extended to Butterworth, all rail services began from Perai, where ferries to Penang Island also departed.
The railway line between Prai and Bukit Mertajam was opened in July 1899, and as sections of the West Coast Line were completed, allowed trains to run from Prai to Seremban by 1903, and Johor Bahru by 1909. The line to Padang Besar was completed in 1918, allowing the first International Express to run between Prai and Bangkok's Thonburi Station that year.

New station

On 5 August 2011, the old Butterworth station building was officially closed and subsequently demolished. It was replaced with a temporary station located about 30m away, next to the KTM Bhd parcel office.
A new Butterworth railway station was then built as part of the Electric Double Tracking Project.

North Butterworth Container Terminal

The Butterworth station is also connected to a freight terminal known as the North Butterworth Container Terminal to handle freight cargo from the south at Johor and from the north at Thailand. Until 1 July 2011, the container terminal also sent shipments and received emptied freight rolling stock to and from Kampong Bahru railyard in Singapore near Tanjong Pagar railway station.

Gallery