The development of railways
Wandering wild elephants, such as this one which derailed a train near Tapah, Perak, in 1984, were a hazard on the new railway tracks.
British intervention in the Malay states, which began in 1874, led to the gradual incorporation of the country into a permanent relationship with the expanding British empire and the emergence of an export-oriented economy specializing in tin and rubber. This process was facilitated by the introduction of railways which were specially constructed to carry the Peninsula's exports from the mines and estates to the ports, and to link the growing urban areas throughout the Malay Peninsula.
- Information in the full article includes
- Early transport
- The phases of development
- Phase I, 1885-96
- Phase II, 1897-1909
- Phase III (1910-31)