The Abandoned Monorail of Melaka in Melaka, Malaysia

Most Popular PlacesRandom PlaceListsItinerariesAdd a PlaceDownload the App The Abandoned Monorail of Melaka The Mocking Mural in Oslo City Hall Grand Vista Sanitarium Ancient Hon Chuong Cham Tower The Best Haunted Hotels to Book for a Spooky Getaway 2 days ago Is Alton, Illinois America’s Most Haunted Small Town? 6 days ago 14 Real Places That Haunt the Pages of Literature 8 days ago A monorail that was built to serve a new development but technical problems, lack of users, and a pandemic caused it to be closed and abandoned, but it is still standing. Several monorail systems were built in Malaysia in the 2000s, and while quite a few no longer exist, the one in Kuala Lumpur still runs and is popular. In 2008 in Melaka, the decision was made to build a monorail system as part of a development called 'The Shore', which was a residential, shopping, and commercial complex on the banks of the Melaka river, which includes the city's tallest building.

Construction began in 2008 and finished in 2010 at a cost of RM16.5 million (roughly £3m or $4.1m). However, technical problems were soon to surface, and resulted in all of the vehicles stopping, trapping 20 people. The next several years saw multiple closures to fix technical issues, followed by re-openings and yet more closures.

It closed from 2013 until 2017, when it finally opened for an extended period of time, which came to an end with the covid-19 pandemic. The fact that it had very low usage meant the decision to close it permanently was an easy one. Most of the infrastructure is still standing, inclusing the elevated tracks, which are a large loop and go nowhere particularly interesting, the main office is still present, with leaflets still inside, and a carriage sitting outside, and another in what appears to be a storage/maintenance area.

All outside areas are easy to reach with no security or fences, but the inside of the offices are out of bounds. Get more unusual and extraordinary places each week with the Atlas Obscura Places newsletter. Your newsletter subscriptions with us are subject to Atlas Obscura's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California. This station on an abandoned railway line, named for “happiness,” is still a popular destination for lovers. This cemetery of rusting Soviet-era steam locomotives and train cars offers an apocalyptic glimpse into a bygone era.

The private train station King Leopold II built for the Belgian royal family now lies abandoned. The forgotten remnants of a land-to-sea cable car that was once unique in the world. A section of a historic wooden trestle viaduct is preserved next to the railway line it once carried. ## Become an Atlas Obscura Member * * * Join our community of curious explorers.