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Pasir Mas is a town and territory (jajahan) in
Kelantan, Malaysia. The
district of Pasir Mas covers an area of 577 square kilometers and is
bordered by the districts of Tumpat to the north, Tanah Merah to the
south, Kota Bahru to the east, and the Thai district of Sungai Kolok
(Malay: Sungai Golok) to the west. Due to its geographical location, it
acts as the main gateway of the East Coast of Malaysia to
Thailand and is
also traversed by major road transport routes from the West Coast to the
state capital of Kota Bahru.
The main town of the same name was once the second biggest in the state
until the early 1990s when it was overtaken by Tanah Merah. The town is
blocked from expanding to the south by the Kelantan River. To the north,
the railway line splits the town - further limiting land suitable and
desirable for commercial real estate development. Haphazard development
over the past decades has resulted in the mushrooming of residential
houses that encircle the town. This makes potential land acquisition for
commercial development a complex and costly exercise. A new township is
slowly taking shape about four miles away at the Mukim (Hamlet) of Lubuk
Jong - a previously swampy area along the road leading to
Rantau Panjang.
Pasir Mas is part of the
Rantau Panjang Line of Keretapi Tanah Melayu's KTM Intercity service and
is the interchange with the service's East Coast Line that ends at the
town of Tumpat. The nightly Ekspres Timuran from
Johor Baru usually
reaches here at around 9 A.M. The Ekspres Wau departs at 6.30 P.M. for the
13-hour journey to Sentral, Kuala Lumpur.
The Rantau Panjang Line continues towards
the north with a station in the border town of
Rantau Panjang and links to the Southern Line of the State Railway of
Thailand. A new train
station, which replaced the original at the same location, was completed
in July 2008.
The reasonable fare attracts small-traders, who would board
here with various goods - usually foodstuff from
Rantau Panjang to transport to the interiors. The trains' scheduled arrivals and
departures often create traffic-jams in the town several times daily. A
carriageway connecting Lemal and Kubang Panjang over the railway track is
being built to overcome this. Trains no longer stop at the hamlet station
of Tok Uban along the way to Tanah Merah.
Bus From Pasir Mas
town, it is possible to go to any state capital in peninsular Malaysia
without having to change buses. However, buses departing from these state
capitals with Kota Bahru as the final destination might not pass through Pasir Mas.
But those with Rantau Panjang as the final destination, will.
Sources: Wikipedia
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