Historic wartime railway uncovered at Fort Cornwallis

New Straits Times

5 days ago

GEORGE TOWN: A significant archaeological discovery in the heart of George Town is drawing fresh attention to Penang's wartime past.
On June 26, during sidewalk and kerb works carried out outside the northwest bastion of Fort Cornwallis, construction teams uncovered a pair of narrow-gauge steel rails, with the year 1895 imprinted on them, embedded just beneath the modern road surface.
The exposed section, measuring just over seven metres, was found along Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, adjacent to one of the fort's historic bastions.
The discovery became the focus of an official site visit today, led by representatives from the National Heritage Department, the Penang government, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP), and the George Town Conservation and Development Corporation (GTCDC).
During the in-situ review and assessment, department officers decided to proceed with the preservation and presentation of the tracks as an open-air public exhibit.
The visit was part of a broader joint effort to assess both the historical significance of the find and its potential contribution to public interpretation of Fort Cornwallis and the North Seafront.
This is not the first time remnants of the line have come to light. A similar segment was unearthed between 2017 and 2018 inside the courtyard of Fort Cornwallis itself.
Together, the two findings have helped reconstruct the likely route of a light railway loop that once served as a military supply line. Pre-1945 military maps and aerial photographs show the line crossing the Padang, connecting the Esplanade's barracks and storage depots with Penang's port facilities along the eastern shoreline.
Although the system appears to have been laid before the Japanese occupation of 1941–1945, it was heavily utilised during the war to transport ammunition, rations and fuel from ships to military warehouses, including those within Fort Cornwallis.
The newly exposed section of track, which still retains its original sleeper spacing and narrow-gauge format, is a rare physical remnant of Penang's wartime infrastructure.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the trolley car track is believed to have been built in 1895, but was likely brought into the state at a later time.
He said it was discovered during restoration work at Fort Cornwallis and that the project team decided to preserve it.
A contractor involved in trenching and moat-related landscaping work unexpectedly stumbled upon the track during site activities, he said.
Chow added that preserving the find could offer visitors a tangible glimpse into the island's strategic role during the Second World War and contribute to broader efforts to present the fort as a layered historical site, spanning centuries of coastal defence, trade and occupation.
"In light of the discovery, several options are now being explored by the project team, conservation specialists and landscape consultants.
"These include the possibility of creating an open-air exhibit that retains the track in situ, supported by interpretive signage and public landscaping.
"While no final decision has been made on the detailed design, the opportunity to integrate this unexpected feature into the ongoing enhancement of the North Seafront is under active development following the department's endorsement.
"This is an extraordinary find, something we could not have anticipated when the project began," he said during a visit to the site this afternoon.
Chow said the discovery adds an entirely new dimension to the state's understanding of the fort and its surroundings.
"Preserving it in a meaningful way could turn a small section of track into a powerful piece of public history," he added.