Petition for a scheduled stop at old Batu Gajah railway station

I have voiced out before about the new railway station in BG which seems to serve KTM's own employees and its trainees more than the local residents. Of course it is too late to change anything, but I still believe KTM could and should be persuaded by us to consider having a scheduled stop at the old station.

I used to have my haircut at the barber shop in the old station and I joked with the barber about starting a petition for a stop. He said the old station will be turned into a railway museum and in reply to my suggestion said that the new double-tracking had made the railway line too high for the old platform. 'Could this be the only reason for the people not to consider my proposal?' I thought to myself. We could cut down mountains and build the tallest buildings in the world at one time, what is a higher platform?

Yesterday, we were at a friend's house for Deepavali lunch near the junction to Pantai Remis off the Ipoh-Lumut highway. We asked his son who was disabled as a result of a road accident, where he got off from the train at BG railway station. He described having to use the wheelchair along the platform parallel to the railway lines for quite a distance and involved going under the railway track before his father could pick him by car. One or more KTM staff had to light up the route for him to do so.

The pedestrian overhead bridge had to be high enough for the train to pass and the station platforms are convenient only to those going south, not to those coming from there.

He said so far, he had been travelling from KL four times. He did mention that disabled persons like him are a very small minority and that was probably why there was no consideration for them. Now, this statement could be true and acceptable in Malaysia, but in developed countries, the people would have had demonstrations over such a lack of foresight and consideration for disabled and old folks from the planners of such a new railway station.

After having the discussion, I have resolved to do something for this petition to see if I can get enough support requesting for a scheduled stop at the old Batu Gajah station. We are not asking for a new station, just what is necessary to enable some disabled people and old folks get on and off the trains without the hassle created by thoughtless planners. Sooner or later, we will belong to the class of old folks with disabilities of one form or the other.


This is a picture taken in 2007 of a scheduled stop at Differdange, Luxembourg. Incidentally, it is next to what used to be a steel factory which supplied the steel for almost all those used in the tallest buildings in the world, including our famed Petronas Twin Towers. Notice the bare necessity of a scheduled stop?

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