My favourite KL building is none other than the KL Railway Station. In my younger days I used it a lot whenever coming in to KL from outstation. Now it’s no more in use, being replaced by the shinier KL Sentral.

KL Railway Station

Prior to the construction of the station, two stations were already operational in the city.

The first Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, nicknamed Resident Station due to its proximity to the residence of the British Resident, was completed and located opposite to the Selangor Club towards the west. Constructed of wood and a nipah palm roof, the station was the first in Kuala Lumpur, linking Kuala Lumpur to Klang (Pengkalan Batu) via the first railway line to connect the city with the rest of the Malay Peninsula (officially inaugurated September 22, 1886).

The second station, Sultan Street Station, was constructed in 1892 at Foch Avenue (now Tun Tan Cheng Lock Road), close to the present Maybank Tower and Puduraya bus station. Its design was based on Resident Station, and was stationed along the Pudu railway line, a new line that branched off north from the 1910 station, and connected mines from Ampang to the city. The line was unique in that the initial leg of the track approaching Sultan Street Station from the main line was sandwiched between two carriageways of Foch Avenue, cutting across the east side of the city.

Resident Station was demolished after construction of the new Kuala Lumpur station was completed. Meanwhile, Sultan Street Station was replaced by a smaller terminal station when the tracks at Foch Avenue were dismantled for road traffic, and was demolished after 1960. The Ampang-linked route is partially reused by the Ampang rapid transit line.

Arthur Benison Hubback, a British Architectural Assistant to the Director of Public Works, undertook the design of the station. Having served in India, he utilised his knowledge of Anglo-Asian architecture in the region on the station’s design. The “Neo-Moorish/Mughal/Indo-Saracenic/Neo-Saracenic” style was not uncommon at the time. Similar structures, such as the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (designed by A.C. Norman, completed 1895), the Old City Hall (designed by A.B. Hubback, completed 1904) and the Jamek Mosque (designed by A.B. Hubback, completed 1909), pre-date Kuala Lumpur station.

At a cost of RM23,000, the station was completed and operational on August 1, 1910. After the demolition of Resident Station and the isolation of Sultan Street Station, Kuala Lumpur Railway Station became the main railway station in Kuala Lumpur. A hotel, the Station Hotel (now the Heritage Station Hotel), occupies part of the station. In 1995, access to KTM Komuter services was introduced at the station.

After the diversion of long-distance intercity rail traffic on April 15, 2001 to Kuala Lumpur Sentral, less than a kilometer south, the original station’s importance diminished and redundant station facilities were withdrawn. While the side platforms of the station were raised to a height suitable for smooth embarking and disembarking from KTM Komuter trains, the current configuration of the platforms and access to services meant that the original station could not be maximised for use as a transportation stop for KTM Komuter passengers (see platform). The entire station is still served by both KTM Komuter and goods services.