KUALA LUMPUR, 29 December — In another landmark achievement in Malaysia’s urban rail, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd – a subsidiary of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) – has rolled out its first newly ‘married’ four-car train set, which was assembled from its previous two-car sets under the company’s Mid-Life Refurbishment (MLR) Project.
After completing 2,000 kilometres of testing and commissioning for service and boosting additional new features, the vibrant new formed four-car train was put into service – a few hours after the final pre-operation run with Rapid Rail Chief Executive Officer, Dato‟ Ir. Zohari Sulaiman and key members of the project team from Prasarana Integrated Management and Engineering Services (PRIME).
“Today is indeed an historic day for Rapid Rail, PRIME and Prasarana. This is again part of our continual efforts to transform the urban rail services in Malaysia. With additional capacity, the „new‟ four-car trains will ensure more comfort and less waiting time for passengers.
“Passengers will have a more pleasant journey with the new and enhanced features of the „new‟ trains. Apart from vibrant new signage, the additional new features include dynamic route map display to indicate direction of travel, previous and arrival station, and next station information.
“The „new‟ trains will also feature an enhanced rail lubricator system to reduce noise between rail and wheel interface, new LED lighting as well as the Passenger Information System (PIS) for infotainment, four units of CCTV and a designated wheelchair area for the OKU in each car,” Zohari said.
According to Zohari, the project involves the refurbishment, rectification, upgrading works, coupling of 34 sets of 2-car train to form 17 sets of 4-car train and upgrading of the wayside systems.
“Basically, what we did is that we cut off the front ends of two 2-car sets; and marry them together, to transform them into a four-car set with added new features. These 2-car sets are inherited by Rapid Rail when Prasarana took over PUTRA LRT. So, these 2-car sets have been operational since 1998 and due for mid-life refurbishment.
He said that next „married‟ four-car trains will be delivered in stages between 2018 and 2020.
“By the year 2020, Rapid KL LRT Kelana Jaya Line will be fully serviced by all four-car trains – 17 sets of „married‟ four-car sets, 35 sets of existing 4-car sets, 14 sets of new KLAV 4-car trains. No more traveling on the two-car trains,” he said, adding that with these numbers, Rapid KL Kelana Jaya Line will be able to meet the requirement of providing services with a two-minute frequency.
Waiting time would also be reduced as a 4-car train set is able to ferry up to 976 passengers at one time; hence, making 4-car train sets more desirable for the passengers as compared to travelling in a 2-car train set.
The MLR Project is contracted to Bombardier Hartasuma Consortium (BHC) and managed by PRIME. Testing and Commissioning is carried out by BHC with participation from PRIME, Rapid Rail and Consulting Engineer with close supervision by SPAD.
