Sunday, May 19, 2013

KVMRT Line 2

Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Line 2 will be even bigger than the first line. The new line is longer than the predecessor, it will have a longer underground section and more stations. That means it will cost more too.


Initial estimates peg the cost of Line 2 at RM24.9bil once the line is extended from Serdang to Putrajaya. Construction of the proposed second line will be done in two stages with the first stage up to Serdang. The cost of that will be similar to that of the first line.

The main difference between the first and second line though will be ridership.


Estimates show that 20% more people, or 550,000 passengers a day, will traverse through line 2 as opposed to 460,000 a day for Line 1.

In terms of passengers per km, Line 2 is expected to ferry 11,100 passengers per km compared with 10,000 passengers per km for Line 1.

Projections also show that Line 2 will carry 40% more people than Line 3, or the circle line, upon completion.

The reason for the higher ridership is that Line 2 will cut through more densely populated and lower income areas. Neighbourhoods such as Damansara Damai, Kepong, Batu Kampung Pandan, Kampung Baru, Sentul and Serdang are large catchment areas of people.

The alignment of Line 2 will also cut near to areas where PR1MA is expected to build affordable housing for Malaysians. Areas such as Sungai Buloh, Kentonmen and Serdang where PR1MA is expected to build mass affordable housing

Both Line 1 and 2 are expected to converge at the Tun Razak Exchange which will enable passengers to interchange onto other lines. [KVMRT: For the whole 51km MRT Line, the only interchange station is at Tun Razak Exchange, how is it possible for passengers flow? Assuming 10% of Line 1 disembark and 20% of Line 2 interchange, it will see about 46,000 and 110,000 passengers at one particular station.]

Line 2 will also serve the KLCC area as it will cut through the middle of the city centre as opposed to the Light Rail Transit line that serves the northern part of the development.


A decision to proceed with Line 2, which is a radial line instead of the circle comes down to catchment and ridership.

Normally, like in the case of Singapore, the circle line will come last. They will do the radial lines first. It's because the radial lines will help you build up the catchment and ridership. The circle line just connects the lines for you. The priority is to first build the network and its catchment.

Ringgit and sen wise, Gamuda points to the study by Halcrow on the economic internal rate of return (EIRR). It claims that the consultant had put an EIRR at 27% which captures the social benefits of the project, value of time and the multiplier impact of the MRT project.

Article read: Will MRT Line 2 go on as planned? (The Star)

KVMRT network structure
According to the the National Land Public Transport Masterplan (final draft), the KVMRT Line 2 or the North-South Line is meant to link developing areas such as Sungai Buloh, Kepong and Selayang with the eastern side of the city centre including Kampung Baru and Tun Razak Exchange.

The third line or the circle line should provide an orbital link between areas such as Mid Valley, Mont Kiara, Sentul Timur, Ampang as well as the planned Matrade.

The KVMRT project, consisting of three lines, is expected to have a total network of 145 km.

By the time the KVMRT Line 1 is completed in 2017, it is expected to carry some 384,000 passengers daily.

A MRT rail system would require some 20,000 passengers per hour per direction to be feasible.


[KVMRT: Technically, one should never define a MRT system as 20,000 pphpd. It is not widely accepted in international standard.]

City taxis pick up from KLIA

On Wednesday, it was reported that taxi services at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will be expanded, under a new system to allow city taxis to pick up passengers.

The two-tier system featuring airport limousines and city taxis is to reduce the waiting period for passengers to under 10 minutes (previously 30 minutes to an hour). Demand for budget taxis, made up about 74% of all taxi demands at KLIA.

[KVMRT: Surprisingly, the limousines is far from reaching the demands which results to long wait.]

SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar at KLIA.

The airport receives about 9.3 million passengers yearly and is estimated to serve between 4,000 and 5,000 taxi trips daily.

Welcoming move: City cabs waiting for passengers at Level One of the KLIA main terminal building.

How to get a metered taxi at KLIA.
Step one: Passengers will be required to buy a RM2 coupon before they can join the queue to hire a metered city cab from the airport.

Step two: Proceed to Level One of the KLIA main terminal building to take a metered taxi.

Step three: Taxi marshals will check the coupons at the door and assign passengers to the taxi bays accordingly.

Article read: From tomorrow, city cabbies can pick up passengers from KLIA (The Star)