Kuala Lumpur Archives - Transport Malaysia

New KL Monorail Trainset by end of December 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, December 17th 2014: RapidKL will add some new four-coach trainset to its existing KL Monorail fleet later this month.

New four-coach RapidKL Monorail Test Train - Picture credit: nst.com.my — New four-coach RapidKL Monorail Test Train – Picture credit: nst.com.my

The new four-coach trainsets have already undergone final testing rounds at the existing KL Monorail line, stopping at every stations. It is expected to reduce congestion commonly seen during peak hours, especially at stations such as Bukit Bintang and Imbi. The current ridership of KL Monorail stands at 72,000 and is expected to double after the new trainsets begin service (source).

Notable features of the new monorail include intercom for communications between passengers and train driver, CCTV on each coach, smoke detectors, top side windows that can be opened during emergency situations and LED station displays.

Near Medan Tuanku station, a new shopping mall has just been opened, which can increase the ridership of KL Monorail even further, considering its proximity with the station.

KL – Singapore High Speed Rail Link: Abe Pitches Japanese Technology to Najib

KTM Berhad Logo

The Japanese Prime Minister suggested the use of Shinkansen technology in building high speed rail link between Singapore and KL during their recent meetup session, as reported by The Straits Times Asia.

Constructing high speed rail service is not easy. The government alone cannot produce a project of this magnitude without affecting other aspects of country expenditure. Therefore, initiatives and partnerships from private firms is highly encouraged to take place. Government-linked Companies (GLCs) should also move their investment arms and turn this project into a successful venture.

The establishment of high speed rail link is expected to have some degree of negative impact towards KTM Intercity service. One source said that KL – Singapore is the most profitable route for KTM Intercity. Therefore, if the rail link is established, KTM Intercity revenue might be jeopardized.

Given the fact that the fares of KTM Intercity is tightly controlled by the government, we do hope that the government does not ‘cannibalize’ its KTM Intercity service. KTM Intercity has lots of room for improvement and it is sad knowing that the government is not doing enough to propel KTM Berhad to a greater height.

We hope that KTM Berhad will have some sort of control over the proposed high speed rail link. Its current business model might be improved in order for them to carry out their business in a more logical and rational basis.

KTM ETS Food Service Quality

Recently, I came across an article in The Star complaining about food service quality onboard ETS train. According to the author, one of the crew members responded rudely when he was asked about the food. Apart from rudeness, complaints can also be seen about unavailability of staff to take care of the orders placed at Food and Beverage counter in ETS’ Food & Beverage coach.

As a service provider with dedicated coach for food and beverage service, KTM Berhad should look into this problem seriously. While there are currently many KTMB staff who can behave appropriately and responded timely with customers’ complaints, there are also some of the ‘rotten eggs’ who smear the overall image of KTM Berhad.

The article mentioned above is about six months old (as of June 2013) but we are hoping that KTM Berhad has conducted a thorough investigation about this problem and rectified it in whichever way necessary. This is important to ensure customer satisfaction is taken up to a higher level.

ETS service is a prime choice of commuters traveling between Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. If the service quality (in terms of staff and on-time performance) can be improved, quite a number of people would not mind paying extra compared to public bus as long as they can have a comfortable ride between Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur.

We are hoping that KTM Berhad will continue to look into ways to improve ETS service because it has clear advantage over bus service, which is the ability to circumvent through traffic jams (they use railroads!)

Update on July 27th 2013: Dead link

RapidKL bus crash – 14th July 2009

On July 14th 2009, a U80 RapidKL bus from Shah Alam crashed onto Federal Highway’s motorcycle lane in Kuala Lumpur. Nevertheless, the driver only suffered from minor injuries and received outpatient while there are several people in the bus were injured badly.

A recall by one of the victims can be read here.

LANDASAN perspective

yes, such accidents do happen. While what happens can be said as parts of God’s plan (Islam and Christian supposedly have the same viewpoint in this), we should also understand that there is a urgent need for us to learn the lesson, albeit in hard way, and take necessary actions.

First of all, as one of RapidKL’s users, I found out that some of the times the bus drivers tend to drive the bus faster than most vehicles on the highway. Sure, most of them will deny this. By the way, RapidKL can obtain more accurate answers for this matter from GPS device attached (if there is any) and also from avid public transport users. Thus, actions can (actually) be taken against bus drivers who drive the bus in an unethical way.

Some of us might put the blame on the troublemaker vehicle (the one that allegedly caused the bus to swerve to the roadside). It might be true also as some of the passengers admit that they saw the vehicle speeding beside the bus just before the crash. Hmmm, that is another option.

Some blame the barriers at roadside are not strong enough to withstand extreme crashing force from the bus. That one I can say its true. Possible causes: Malaysia is not rich enough to purchase extra-strength road barriers, Extre-strength road barriers might harm road users, or Extra-strength road barriers is not practical to install.

The mystery remains unsolved.

Source(s)

http://transitmy.org/2009/07/15/rapidkl-bus-crash-14-july-2009/

http://fayyadz.blogspot.com/2009/07/pemuda-bervisi-terlibat-dalam.html