Merdeka Special - KL Railway

THEN: VICTORY AVENUE

The Kuala Lumpur railway station back in the 1950s.

NOW: JALAN SULTAN HISHAMUDDIN

The prominent Moorish-style buildings still standing 50 years on.

Features of old still standing tall

THE Kuala Lumpur railway station, which opened in 1911, was planned by the British government as a transportation hub for the Federated Malay States.

Even though it stopped operating as a railway station in 2001 when KL Sentral took over, the building with its intricate Moorish-style architecture, remains one of the most loved and photographed in Kuala Lumpur.

As you can see from the picture on the top, taken in the 1950s, life was much more leisurely then. By the way, the name of the road at that time was Victory Avenue.

Fifty years on, the road is now called Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin but two buildings there remain relatively unscathed by time.

The one across from the old railway station still operates as the KTM Berhad headquarters.