KUCHING: A preliminary railway alignment has been proposed for the Trans-Borneo Railway project, which is now undergoing a feasibility study led by the federal Transport Ministry.
State Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said the alignment will be further refined in the study expected to be completed next June.
“Since the study commenced in June 2025, two technical workshops have been conducted with our counterparts from Sabah’s relevant agencies to review findings and coordinate planning.
“The first interim report was presented on Oct 30,” he told Wilfred Yap (GPS-Kota Sentosa) during question time in the Sarawak legislative assembly here yesterday.
Dr Jerip said the study was also looking into integrating the railway with the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) for seamless connections with local public transport.
“This integration is expected to improve accessibility within Greater Kuching and Kota Sentosa and enhance overall connectivity across the region.”
Dr Jerip also said KUTS was an initiative under the Sarawak Integrated Transport Master Plan to develop an efficient and sustainable transport system.
“Under KUTS, the future plan for the Red Line includes an extension to 12th Mile Kuching-Serian Road, with additional expansions to be considered in subsequent phases,” he said.
The Red Line is one of three Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) lines being developed under the first phase of the KUTS project that runs for about 12.3km from Kuching Sentral to Pending.
Separately, state Deputy Infrastructure and Port Development Minister Datuk Aidel Lariwoo said the Sarawak government was currently gazetting 5,977km of logging roads as state roads in order to maintain them.
“Once the gazetting is completed, the state government will take over maintenance work for these roads under the state road maintenance programme,” he said in reply to a question from Nicholas Kudi (GPS-Baleh).
He added that the process involved abandoned logging roads as well as active and inactive logging roads which connect rural settlements in Sarawak.
