Due to the recent massive flooding that ravaged the peninsular east coast, the interstate Kuala Lumpur – Tumpat rail line has been heavily damaged – and might not facilitate any travel for the next to years, while repairs take place.
The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) stated that the damage to the railway line would take a year to repair, and those repairs have yet to begin.
“The Transport Ministry is working on awarding (the contract) and going through procurement now,” SPAD chief executive Mohd Nur Ismail Mohd Kamal said, as quoted by The Star Online‘s Patrick Lee.
SPAD officials are unsure if repair work on the track would commence this year, as the details of the contract do not seem to have been ironed out.
Sections of the rail line were so severely damaged that part of one bridge near Kembubu was completely swept away by flood waters.
The stretch of track between Manek Urai and Gua Musang is also damaged or covered by landslides.
SPAD rail division chief Yuslizar Daud said the track was used by 1,500 people per day before the floods, with 12 rides – six bound for Tumpat, and another six bound for Gemas – operating daily.
Restoring the 526km track would cost about RM300 million.
Photo: The Star
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