MALAYSIA: Electric services started between Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru on December 12. This follows the handover of the electrification at 25 kV 50 Hz of the 192 km long, metre-gauge Gemas – Johor Bahru section of the west coast corridor with a ceremony on the previous day, attended by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The 8·9bn ringgit project included the double-tracking of the Gemas – Johor Bahru section, and the construction of 11 new stations. These will ’open up space and opportunities for the birth of new economic activity centres that will undoubtedly bring spillover benefits to the people in the surrounding areas’, according to Ibrahim.
New bridges, depots and servicing facilities were also built as part of the modernation programme; the rebuilt corridor has a maximum operating speed of 140 km/h.
Civil works started in December 2016, and were led by a joint venture of local companies SIPP Rail Sdn and YTL Construction.
The west coast corridor is operated using a fleet of 10 ETS3 trainsets, supplied to national operator KTMB by CRRC Zhuzhou. The first of the 160 km/h EMUs entered service in August last year.
They are able to complete the 370 km Kuala Lumpur Sentral – Johor Bahru Sentral journey in 4 h 20 min, compared to the previous journey time using diesel traction of around 7 h.
