Sungai Buloh – Kajang Line rolling stock under utilised

The upcoming MRT Line 1 of Kuala Lumpur City, Sungai Buloh – Kajang Line will be using Siemens Inspiro as its rolling stock with only 20 4-car trainsets configuration.

Capacity of the train is 300 passengers per car (approx. 1,200 passengers). In comparison of Singapore's North South Line  NSL  and East West Line  EWL  trains (Siemens C651), they carries around 1,920 passengers (320 passengers per car).

Thus, it clearly shows that SBK Line will only carry 93% of the SMRT train capacity.

Comparison table

6-car CSR Zhuzhou LRV trainsets ¹ – 1,308 passengers
4-car Bombardier Innovia Metro ART 200 ² – 944 passengers (236 pax per car)

MRT Corp Sdn Bhd will have to answer why are we only using 4-car trainsets and not 6-car as other major MRTs system are using and the reduced capacity is only marginally higher than a cheaper LRT system.

Remarks
¹ Sri Petaling Line
² Kelana Jaya Line

New 4-carriage trains KL Monorail

KVMRT welcomes the great news for KL Monorail commuters in this November. Overcrowding at station and inside the Monorail would be a past thing when 4-car trains operate (existing is 2-car), by Scomi Rail Bhd.

Scomi wins RM494m job to supply 4-car trains (BTimes)

By Bilqis Bahari

KUALA LUMPUR: More city dwellers will be able to ride the newly-upgraded KL Monorail in one go and their journey time on the trains will also be reduced.

With this in mind, 12 sets of new four-car trains will be built and used for the existing monorail under a contract agreement inked between Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) and Scomi Rail Bhd (Scomi).

The RM494 million project is scheduled to be completed by July 2013. The first set of four-car trains will be running starting November 15 2012.

The new four-car trains will be able to load on an average of 118 passengers per car, compared to the existing car-trains that can fit only 107 passengers per car.

Scomi Engineering Bhd chairman Datuk Zainun Aishah Ahmad said the current two-car trains are serving at 35 per cent over capacity and it is projected that this number will increase substantially by 2012.

"To meet this demand, Prasarana has contracted Scomi to double the capacity of the current KL monorail line to 6,400 passengers per hour per direction with the new four-car-trains," she said.

Meanwhile, Scomi group chief executive officer Shah Hakim Zain said besides providing the new four-car trains, Scomi will also improve the individual monorail stations by increasing the length of platforms and improve the current stations condition.

He added that Scomi will install a new signalling system for the trains, so that "it will allow us to move into driverless technology in the future."

He was speaking to reporters at a press conference after the signing ceremony yesterday. Also present was the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.

Kong said the project is part of the government's National Key Result Areas, its objective is to increase the ridership capacity for the KL Monorail Line by end-2012 and to enhance the comfort and convenience to KL commuters.

The 4-car train for KL Monorail.

New entrance of Bukit Bintang Monorail station from Lot10 side is now under construction.

Groundwork at Imbi Station, noticed the support column base.

With the new 4-carriage trains are in used, carrying capacity will increase to 472 passengers from current 214. This figure will increase to 5664 passengers per direction per hour (472 x 12).

These are strikingly poor line capacity numbers that are more in range with a middle-capacity Bus Rapid Transit system or a tram/streetcar! And the monorail cost us 40 million USD per km!

Most of stations are undergoing expansion, in terms of platform. Besides, integration at Titiwangsa and Bukit Nenas station are almost complete.

Video: http://www.scomi.com.my/GUI/video/klmonorail/video_rail.html

It’s a four-car MRT

Exclusive: It’s a four-car MRT

New trains can carry 50 per cent more passengers than LRT, says Prasarana

By Shahrim Tamrin
Monday, June 20, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: THE RM36 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in the Klang Valley will have four-car train sets which can carry up to 1,200 passengers for each trip.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) group managing director Shahril Mokhtar said the four-car train set was to accommodate a projected 1.2 million commuters along the proposed 51km line with 35 stations.

“The rolling stock tender for the new four-car MRT trains will be opened early next year. We are looking at having four-car trains which can accommodate 50 per cent more passengers per trip, to cope with the projected increase in commuters."

Currently, the four-car train sets at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Kelana Jaya line has a capacity of 800 passengers per trip.

During peak hours, the frequency of the MRT trains would be increased to one every two minutes, if there was enough trains to cope.

When asked if the new trains would be auto-pilot or driverless, Shahril said: "We have yet to decide on that."

An industry insider familiar with the MRT, the country’s biggest infrastructure project, said Prasarana was considering having fully-computerised driverless trains like the SkyTrain system at Vancouver, Canada.

It is learnt the dimensions for the higher-capacity MRT trains would be between 20m to 22m per car, 3m to 3.2m and 3.7m for length, width and height respectively. The insider said these specifications were similar to those elsewhere around the world.

The new four-car trains will have six bays for wheelchair-bound passengers, with one bay each in the first and fourth cars and two each in the intermediate cars.

“In principle, Prasarana is following the heavy-capacity MRT trains commonly used in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Sao Paulo in Brazil,” said the insider.

The first phase of the MRT, which involve three lines, will be launched on July 8 with a ground-breaking ceremony by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, followed by construction work from Kajang and Cheras in November.

The project, part of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), will link the city’s suburb and district commuter lines that are not served by the LRT systems, as announced by Najib last December.

The final MRT alignment is expected to be announced this month, following three months of public dialogues with various stakeholders that concluded last month.

Taipei MRT

Train is computer-controlled with on-board operator
Builder: Three-car train set Kawasaki C371
Length (per car): 23.5 m
Width: 3.2 m
Height: 3.6 m
Speed: 90 km/h (max)
Maximum capacity: 1,104 passengers (368 people per car, seated and standees)

Singapore MRT

Automatic train control supplemented with automatic train operation
Builder: Six-car train set Kawasaki-Nippon Sharyo C751B
Length (per car): 23 m
Width: 3.2 m
Height: 3.7 m
Speed: 90 km/hour (max)
Maximum capacity: 1,920 passengers (288 people per car, seated and standees)