 By 1889, the JWR was in disuse.The idea of a railway line in Johor was conceived by then Maharaja of Johor, Abu Bakar, following a visit to England in 1866 where he witnessed some of the England's early railways.The new railway was to connect Johor Bahru, the capital of the Johor Sultanate, to Gunung Pulai away, where a sanatorium and hill resort was planned to be built to capitalise on the location's cooler temperatures.