Major support has been pledged by major public transportation players, including the ministry of transport, and Prasarana Malaysia Bhd just to mention a few, towards the Mass Rapid Transit Line 3 (MRT3), better identified as the Klang Valley Transport System.
The System aims to expand the current public transport coverage network in the Klang Valley and to provide access to transit rail for the residents and communities that presently do not have or have less access to the public transport services in the country.
In a speech, the Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Dr. Wee KaSiong revealed that the government has been looking for ways to integrate all the train lines that are present in the Klang Valley. These include the Monorail, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTM), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).
More encouragement for the Klang Valley Transport System Project
Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd president and (CEO) group chief executive office on the other hand said that they see the Klang Valley Transport System project helping the public ecosystem that is currently present in the country, well, especially in the Klang Valley.
Read Also Singapore and Malaysia in talks over High-Speed Rail project
He further said that they support the proposal by the MRT3 in regards to ensuring the transit-oriented developments (TODs) that are along with the lands that surround the stations, especially on affordable housing.
The Chief operating officer on the Klang Valley Transport System, Mohd Zain Md Taha expressed that one of the reasons the country’s largest railway company supports the project is because of the electric train services and the KTM Komutwe can also be able to expand their connectivity. This is especially true (and beneficial) for the areas that are not served by the KTM Komuter.
Project Overview
The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit is a three-line planned mass rapid transit (MRT) project in the Klang Valley (Greater Kuala Lumpur), a conurbation in Malaysia including the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It visualizes a “wheel and spoke” concept with two northwest-southeast radial lines and a single circle line looping around the city of Kuala Lumpur.
The project’s concept was formulated by Gamuda Berhad and MMC Corporation Berhad joint venture, the design contract awarding and construction packages were set to be tendered out by the government via the Swiss challenge method. The MMC-Gamuda joint venture showed its intention to be the leader of the scheme and undertake tunneling duties. The newly launched Public Land Transport Commission (SPAD) was to oversee and coordinate the whole MRT development in terms of cost, viability, alignment, and integration, and playing the role of regulators when the project would complete. The national public transport infrastructure company, Prasarana Malaysia was to ultimately own and operate the MRT.
When completed, the MRT lines be performing as integrants of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System. The MRT will also serve to strengthen the present rail transit network in the Klang Valley, integrating a number of existing rail lines while alleviating the serious traffic congestion in the Klang Valley metropolitan area. The scheme represents one of the economic entry point projects pinpointed for the Klang Valley National Key Economic Area under the Economic Transformation strategy. The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit is envisaged to greatly transform and improve Kuala Lumpur’s poor and sorely inadequate public transportation sector, propelling the Klang Valley metropolitan region to be on par with that of a developed city. Upon completion, the system will increase Klang Valley’s rapid rail network from 2010’s record of 15 km per million to 40 km per million people.
The MRT Circle Line that will be looping around Kuala Lumpur, the MRT Kajang Line and MRT Putrajaya Line with a radius of 20 km in the southeast will all incorporate the present rapid transit system in Kuala Lumpur, serving a high-density area which are presently not serviced by any rapid transit system. Around 90 new stations are incorporate in the “Wheel and Spoke” concept, from which 26 in the city centre will be underground. The system will have a ridership capacity of 2 million passengers on daily basis. The preliminary project cost, funded by the government-funded, was estimated by MMC-Gamuda to be around RM36 billion, representing the largest infrastructure scheme ever undertaken in the country. It was estimated that the cost could significantly rise due to extensive tunneling works required.
Read also: Tour Hekla in La Défense, Paris
The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Project Timeline
May 2012
MRT Corp granted four tenders worth RM3.22 billion for the construction of the first project’s line, MRT Kajang Line. At the end of 2012, the corporation revealed that the scheme for its first MRT line would not exceed RM23 billion, adding that the line was planned to complete by July 2017.
December 2014
During the MRT Kajang Line briefing, the MRT Corp CEO stated that the second MRT line construction was set to start in November 2015, after getting approvals and public displays by early 2015.
February 2015
MRT Corp prepared tenders for the second MRT line. After a lot of delays and re-alignments of the stations, the second MRT line, the MRT Putrajaya Line construction started in September 2016, with Phase 1 operations of the line anticipated to be started by July 2021.
December 2016
On 16 December, the first phase of construction of the MRT Kajang Line, spanning 23 km from Sungai Buloh to Semantan was reported to be complete and was opened.
July 2017
The second phase the line, the remaining portion of the line from Sematan to Kajang was completed and opened on 17 July, allowing the whole line to enter full revenue service.
2018
Motorola Solutions was awarded a project to deliver a very secure and reliable TETRA TwoWayRadio communications network for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) SBK line rail.
2021
The government of Malaysia planned for the third MRT line, the 13 MRT Circle Line, which will comprise of 31 stations and 2 provisionals over 50 km running from Bukit Kiara to University Malaya Medical Center. Building of the Circle Line will have the “wheel” feature of the “Wheel and Spoke” model used in the building of the whole MRT project. The 12 MRT Putrajaya Line, presently under construction, will have 35 stations over 52.2 km stretching from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya, will also pass through the city centre , serving the suburban regions of Kepong, Bandar Sri Damansara Sentul, Titiwangsa, Kuchai Lama, Sungai Besi, Seri Kembangan and Cyberjaya. The line is set to be fully operational by 2023.
