Kuala Lumpur Monorail - a Photo Essay
Page two of thirteen
another Monorail Society Exclusive!

Here we are at KL Sentral Station, the new rail hub of the City of Kuala Lumpur. Here you can board several conventional and light rail lines that traverse the city and run to suburbs as well. You can even check your luggage in for major airline flights and ride the new KLIA Express train to the international airport. When the KL Monorail was built, politics unfortunately came into play and the monorail company was not allowed to build their station right next to KL Sentral.

The KL Sentral monorail station is located across a parking lot from the rail station, and transfers require that you walk for five minutes through a makeshift covered market located in the parking lot. This will all change before too long, because politics have improved greatly for the monorail, as a result of their successful short history since opening. Since this photo was taken a new skyscraper has been built here, along with a better connecting walkway and station, allowing passengers to walk inside between the monorail and KL Sentral.

Squeezed between two older buildings, the KL Sentral Station consists of a single beam of monorail track. Passengers board from the left and disembark to the right.

These are the ticket machines and gates for entry to the station. Note that they have cleverly been "themed" as luggage. Also note that we are seeing our first advertising along the route. KL Monorail has exclusive rights to advertise on the system, and they have taken advantage of it considerably.

Malaysia is in the midst of a remarkable transformation. It is in the process of leaving its Third World status behind and becoming modern throughout the country. Contrasts are still seen throughout the country, like this view of a rather "worn" concrete apartment located only a few feet away from a modern monorail coming into KL Sentral Station. The year-round humid, stormy weather takes a toll on structures, and it shows if they aren't maintained.

Just beyond KL Sentral station, the line splits over a switch and is dual-laned throughout the system until the northern terminal. The green scaffolding in the distance is covering a construction project being built by Kuala Lumpur Monorail. It's called Monorail City and will include a shopping center. The closest station to it is the second along the line, Tun Sambanthan, which is located along the Kelang River

This picture is taken from the platform of Tun Sambanthan Station. Behind us is the monorail maintenance and storage depot, as well as Monorail City. In this view we are looking north along the Kelang River. Behind the train is Wisma Monorail, or roughly translated, Monorail Headquarters. Administrative offices are located here, as well as the operations and control center.
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