KL Sentral, KL’s Rail Transportation Hub. Photo Credit: Akira Mitsudo

A key part of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme, a trio of new rail lines aims to ease traffic congestion and bring mass transit to thousands living in and around Kuala Lumpur. Editor Chad Merchant takes an updated look at this ambitious project, now well underway throughout the city.

Not unlike other large cities in Asia, traffic is an ongoing problem in Kuala Lumpur. For expats and locals alike, bemoaning the maddening jams that seem capable of gripping any road at any time is part of life here. The existing public transit system helps to some extent, but simply doesn’t reach enough neighbourhoods or people to be an adequate solution to transportation woes in the city. From their inception in the ’90s, three separate lines operated independently and there was little cooperation or connectivity between them, further diminishing the effectiveness of public transit here. All that began to change in 2004 when the lines were brought under the single RapidKL banner. Major renovation works were commissioned a couple of years ago at KL Sentral, the main hub for all rail lines in Klang Valley. Today, with the construction now complete, the two existing light rail line stations, as well as a KTM Komuter station, are connected – via a shiny new mall, of course – to the monorail line’s south terminus, a vast improvement from the days of having to walk several hundred metres outdoors to get from one line to the other.

But the biggest, and perhaps most anticipated, change is the construction of three entirely new lines, a truly massive undertaking. The first phase of these new Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines, the RM23 billion Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line, is now well underway. All 31 stations along the line’s 51-km length have been confirmed, and some of the actual stations are slowly beginning to take shape. The construction of the new MRT lines and their integration with existing LRT lines is part of the Greater KL MRT Project, one of the key initiatives identified under the government’s Economic Transformation Programme and is expected to serve nearly 65% of all travel in and out of the KL City Centre area by the year 2020. Moreover, this line will serve a number of densely populated areas in KL and surrounding Selangor, such as Damansara, TTDI, and Cheras, which are now critically underserved by mass transit. Now moving into its third year of construction, the amazing scale and scope of this massive transit project are clearly visible. Thousands of workers along the length of the line labour day and night, and commuters are well-familiarised with the blizzard of orange cones and temporary walls along the construction zones. As of this update, over 50% of the elevated spans are now in place, and contractors will soon begin installing the actual track in some areas.

With authorities having learned from previous oversights, 16 of the new MRT stations will incorporate park-n-ride facilities, a welcome change. This new line will serve an estimated 1.2 million people and is forecast to have a daily ridership of nearly 500,000. There is great hope that this will do much to ease the severe congestion that plagues many of the city’s roadways. Additionally, the proximity of these stations to both existing and new residential developments will little doubt serve to increase property values, as well.

The line, which will run from Sungai Buloh in the northwest to Kajang in the southeast will feature nearly 10km of track and seven stations underground, and this effort currently stands at about 70% completion, with nearly all of the tunneling for the underground alignment complete. The rest of the line will be above ground, and the entire 51-km journey from one end to the other should take approximately 90 minutes. The Sungai Buloh-Kajang line is expected to be fully operational by mid-2017.

Artist Rendering of MRT Station

Confirmed Stations with Finalised Names

• Sungai Buloh
• Kampung Selamat
• Kwasa Damansara
• Kwasa Sentral
• Kota Damansara
• Surian
• Mutiara Damansara
• Bandar Utama
• Taman Tun Dr Ismail
• Phileo Damansara
• Pusat Bandar Damansara
• Semantan
• Muzium Negara*
• Pasar Seni*
• Merdeka*
• Bukit Bintang *
• Tun Razak Exchange*
• Cochrane*
• Maluri*
• Taman Pertama
• Taman Midah
• Taman Mutiara
• Plaza Connaught
• Taman Suntex
• Sri Raya
• Bandar Tun Hussein Onn
• Bukit Dukung
• Taman Koperasi Cuepacs
• Sungai Kantan
• Bandar Kajang
• Kajang

*Underground stations

For more details and updates, please visit www.mrt.com.my.

Read This: Delay in KTM Commuter Service until 30 April

Source: The Expat Magazine February 2015