world. It took 30 minutes to go up the hill on the funicular service with a change of train in the middle station. 1977 upgrade The first carriages were wooden with defined first and second class compartments in each one. The four carriages were in use on the railway for over 50 years until they were retired in 1977 and replaced with the red carriages which had fans and automatic sliding doors. Each of the red Swiss-made carriages can hold up to 80 people, mostly standing. They were in use for over 30 years until 2010. 2010 overhaul After a series of breakdowns, the idea of a complete overhaul of the system with a new funicular railway was mooted. On 22 February 2010, the 87-year-old funicular railway was closed for an upgrade to a new system at a cost of RM 63 million. New tracks were laid, and new cars purchased to increase the passenger capacity and the speed of the train. A new base station and a public carpark were also constructed. The timber from the old railway track was re-used in the construction of a new four-storey Penang Hill Visitor Centre at the top. The new train and railway, unlike the railway before 2010, does not require passengers to change trains halfway up. Passengers can have non-stop service in the new blue and white, air-conditioned Swiss-made cars which are capable of ferrying up to 100 passengers at one go. The funicular train maximum working load has been set at 7,500 kg. It can carry 1,000 passengers per hour compared to 250 under the old system. On April 25, 2011, the new railway system resumed its service, although initially there were a number of technical hitches which caused the service to be temporarily suspended. The train service runs from 6.30am to 9pm daily, and the new car can reach the top in as little as five minutes. The upgrade led to a large increase in passengers carried; in 2014, the number of passengers reached 1.365 million, compared to the visitors number to Penang Hill of around half a million in 2008. Stations Visitors can enter the funicular railway at the Lower Station at Air Itam, and the final stop of the ride is the Upper Station at the top of Penang Hill. There are a number of stations along the railway between the Upper and Lower stations - the