Thursday 23 January 2014

Malaysia’s MRT Corp looking at 400,000 passengers daily for Line 1 rail transport

Malaysia’s Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp)is looking at a daily passenger load of about 400,000 for the 51-kilometre Line 1 of the rail transport system from Sungai Buloh to Kajang.

Its Acting Chief Executive Officer, Haris Fadzilah Hassan, said the company has purchased 58 sets of trains from Siemens AG, with the first expected to be delivered in September this year for a trial run.

The trains cost RM 1.37 billion, which was part of the RM23 billion cost of the whole MRT Line 1 project, he said.

“Each train unit is capable of transporting about 300 passengers. Each trip will have four sets of trains with the total capacity of 1,200 passengers and at 3.5-minute intervals, operating from 6am to midnight,” he told reporters after a walkabout session in Jalan Bukit Bintang in the capital, Thursday.

Haris said the company hoped that the project, when completed in July 2017, would help ease traffic congestion in the city centre.

“MRT Corp will also be working with other public transportation providers and relevant stakeholders to integrate the systems, to solve problems from the first to the last mile,” he said.

On the underground work at Bukit Bintang, he said, it was part of the 9.5-km stretch of underground work from Jalan Semantan to Maluri costing RM8.28 billion.

“There will be seven stations underground and Bukit Bintang is one of them,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the traffic management plan, MRT Corp’s Director of Strategic Communications and Public Relations, Amir Mahmood Razak, who led the walkabout, said various measures were implemented to ensure smooth traffic flow.

He said a stretch of 150 metres from the junction of Jalan Sultan Ismail involving two lanes had been realigned towards the right side of the road facing the row of shop lots between McDonald’s and KFC Restaurant.

“It is now reverted to its original alignment after being diverted to the left side of the road since Oct 16, 2012,” Amir said.

Amir said any added traffic congestion could also be due to other reasons as multiple projects were on-going in the area and motorists were also constantly parking illegally.

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