| Brunei | |
|---|---|
 Brooketon Colliery, end of 19th century |
Rail transport in Brunei did not play an important role during the development of Brunei.
| Brunei | |
|---|---|
| Brooketon Colliery, end of 19th century |
Rail transport in Brunei did not play an important role during the development of Brunei.
Brooketon Colliery in the sub-district Serasa operated a 2.5 km long narrow gauge railway with the unusual gauge of 711 mm (2 ft 4 in) from the colliery to the deepwater harbour near Muara. Wooden rails were used, until steel rails were laid, [1] so that two 0-4-0 steam locomotives of Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. could be used.
The locomotive with the serial No 696 was built in 1891 and had an inner frame, a wheel diameter of 559 mm (1 ft 10 in), outer cylinders with a capacity of 178 × 356 mm (7 × 14 in) and a height of only 1753 mm (5 ft 9 in), to be used in the 1829 mm (6 ft) high mine shaft. She had the name MARGUERITE REINE after Sir Charles Brookes' French wife Margaret de Windt. An identical Barclay locomotive with the serial No 815 was built in 1897 and was named BROOKETON. It was despatched in January 1898 from Glasgow. [2]
The rail track was nearly completely lifted, but there are some mine shafts, overgrown remains of tracks and locomotives, which are protected under the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act of Brunei Darussalam. The department of museums of Brunei plans, to exhibit them in an open-air museum, to support eco-tourism. [1]
Between 1888 and 1924 approximately 650.000 t of Brooketon coal was transported, which was on high demand by the steam boats during their stop-over on the lucrative trip from India to China. [3] The colliery and its railway were decommissioned by 1924. [4] During World War II the Japanese operated the coal mine once again for local use. [3]
Since the 1930s existed a 19.3 kilometres (12.0 mi) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of mit 600 mm from Seria to Badas. [5] [6] [4] [7] [8] The alignment of the railway with wooden rails was built by the British Malayan Petroleum Company (BMP, now Brunei Shell Petroleum), to transport water from a pumping station in Badas, which was operated by George William Percival Clark at the Sungai Belait River, to Seria. [9] It was subsequently used, to transport pipeline tubes. [10]
The employees of BMP hid during World War II the most important parts of the railway from the Japanese, who consequently couldn't operate it. After liberation by the 9th Division of the Australian Army the hidden parts re-appeared in July 1945, and the railway was quickly re-commissioned, to transport two 25-pound howitzers and their ammunition to Badas, to disperse Japanese troops, which were still in the area. [9]
According to some reports, the railway was still being used in 1999. [4] [5] The tracks are still (2013) in use for transporting trees and as a walkway. [11] [12] [13]
In the LNG loading pier of Brunei LNG (BLNG) plant in Lumut, Brunei, a Joint Venture of the government of Brunei (50%), Shell Overseas Trading (25%) and Mitsubishi (25%), a broad gauge industrial railway is used with the unusual gauge of 1533 mm (60+1⁄3 in).
Bemo Rail of Warmenhuizen in the Netherlands laid the track onto the pier for transporting workers and equipment to the platform, which is 4 km away from the coastline, at which tankers can be filled with LNG, because they cannot come closer to the coast because the water is very shallow. Bemo also supplied two battery operated rail vehicles made in 1993 and 1997/98, as well as a motorless passenger car and some flat cars for tools. The locomotives get their energy from batteries and are explosion proof, for instance with stainless steel wheels. They can transport 10 passengers each. The original description was RCE-15 (Rail Car Electric, 15 kN (1,5 t) pulling force). Now it has been renamed to BRE-15 (Bemo Rail Electric). The maximum speed is 15 km/h. In 1999 the first locomotive was equipped, similarly to the second locomotive, with an AC asynchron motoro instead of the DC motor. [14] Two older explosion proof rail cars and trailers were delivered by Alan Keef in England. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
The 4,400 kilometres (2,700 mi) long Trans Borneo Railway is still being planned. Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah and Kalimantan shall be connected, investing a budget of 33 billion US Dollar. Thereby coal, timber and other agricultural produce could be transported from the hinterland of Borneo to the harbour in Bandar Seri Begawan, and from there to world-wide destinations. [20] [21]
Steel import for railway and tramway tracks increased since 1994 from 283 t to 539 t in 2002 an. However, the import rate sank subsequently(2003–2015) to a lower value than in 1994. [22] On 10 November 2016 a tender for land survey equipment for the standard gauge project was published by the Ministry for Public Works and Traffic.
Initial plans for a metro in Brunei have so far not been completed. The government of Brunei invited the Malaysian government-owned company Prasarana Malaysia on 18 April 2017, to develop a concept for a metro network. [23]
Brunei, formally Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with its territory bifurcated by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2020 the country had a population of 460,345, of whom approximately 100,000 resided in the capital and largest city Bandar Seri Begawan. The government of Brunei is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Sultan of Brunei, and it implements a fusion of English common law and jurisprudence inspired by Islam, including sharia.
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", was the basis for the 4-foot-8+1⁄2-inch (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.
In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges exist worldwide, gauge differences often present a barrier to wider operation on railway networks.
Belait District, or simply Belait, is the largest as well as the westernmost district in Brunei. It has an area of 2,727 square kilometres (1,053 sq mi) and the population of 69,062 as of 2016. The administrative town is Kuala Belait, located at the mouth of the Belait River. The district is commonly associated with the oil and gas industry of the country, mainly concentrated near the town of Seria.
Kuala Belait is the administrative town of Belait District, Brunei. The population of the town proper was 4,259 in 2016. Kuala Belait is officially a municipal area, as well as a village under the mukim of the same name. The town is located 85 kilometres (53 mi) west of the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan, and 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Seria, the district's other town. It is also in the westernmost part of country, near the mouth of the Belait River.
Seria is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the country's oil and gas industry. The town's bazaar, officially opened on 19th September 1954, has few retail establishments, fresh food markets, supermarkets, banking services, tourist information centers, and a range of restaurants, including Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Italian ones as well as outdoor dining in somewhat rustic settings. For processing documentation related to owning a car and hiring domestic helpers (amahs), government offices are located in Kuala Belait.
Muara Town or simply Muara is a port town in Brunei-Muara District, Brunei, about 28 kilometres (17 mi) from the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The population of the town proper was 2,102 in 2016. It is home to Muara Port, the country's primary deep water port.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Brunei Darussalam is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction covering the territory of Brunei and headed by an apostolic vicar. The first apostolic vicar was Cornelius Sim, who was created a cardinal in 2020 and died in May 2021.
The Catholic Church in Brunei Darussalam is a part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in communion with the pope in Rome, and constitutionally recognised within the state of Brunei Darussalam. The entire territory of the Church in Brunei is organised as an apostolic vicariate, under the leadership of a bishop, since 2005. While no formal diplomatic relations exist between the Holy See and Brunei, there are existing quasi-diplomatic contacts between the church and government agencies at multiple levels. Since 1990, a papal nuncio has visited the country annually to make contact with the local church as well as the foreign affairs ministry. The Apostolic Delegation to Brunei Darussalam was established in 1998 following the establishment of the distinct Bruneian ecclesiastical territory as an apostolic prefecture. The Bruneian ecclesiastical jurisdiction falls under the purview of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
DST Group Brunei Premier League was the top-tier football league of Brunei until 2012, when it became the second tier of the football pyramid of Brunei with the creation of the Brunei Super League by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam.
Panaga is a coastal settlement on the north-east coast of the island of Borneo, in the Bruneian district of Belait. Officially known in Malay as Kampung Panaga, it is a village-level subdivision under Seria, a mukim or subdistrict of Belait. The settlement of Panaga comprises a public housing estate under the National Housing Scheme and the housing estate of Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), the main oil and gas company in the country. Panaga is also home to the headquarters of the company itself. The postcode for Panaga is KB4533.
Mukim Seria is a mukim in Belait District, Brunei. It has an area of 169 square kilometres (65 sq mi); the population was 21,214 in 2016. The mukim encompasses Seria, one of the only two towns in the district. It is home to the oil and gas industry of the country.
Brooketon Colliery, formerly known as Muara Coal Mine, was one of the underground coal mines in Brunei.
Rasau is an area in Brunei. The area contains one of the two oil fields of Brunei, the Rasau Field, and a small village, Kampong Rasau, which has a population of 103.
The Brunei LNG (BLNG) is the LNG plant in Lumut, Brunei. It is the largest oil and gas producer in the country. Moreover as of 2006, Brunei has been the 4th largest oil producer in Southeast Asia and the 9th largest LNG producer in the world.
A mine railway, sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden. It is little remembered, but the mix of heavy and bulky materials which had to be hauled into and out of mines gave rise to the first several generations of railways, at first made of wooden rails, but eventually adding protective iron, steam locomotion by fixed engines and the earliest commercial steam locomotives, all in and around the works around mines.
The Avon and Gloucestershire Railway also known as The Dramway was an early mineral railway, built to bring coal from pits in the Coalpit Heath area, north-east of Bristol, to the River Avon opposite Keynsham. It was dependent on another line for access to the majority of the pits, and after early success, bad relations and falling traffic potential dogged most of its existence.
Transport in Brunei consists of air, land, and sea transport. Previously there was some rail transport in Brunei, but eventually most of it was closed down. Several public and commercial sector organizations are in charge of creating and overseeing these networks and infrastructures. The Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) is in charge of overseeing the maritime and aviation industries, as well as planning and regulating all kinds of land transportation.
Egret oil field, also known as Egret Field, is a complex oil and gas field in the South China Sea and 45 km north-west of Seria, Belait District, Brunei. It is located at the depth of 60 m, and operated by Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP).
The LumutLighthouse, is an active lighthouse at Kampong Sungai Kayu Ara under the administration of Kampung Lumut II, Mukim Liang, Belait District of Brunei.
