| KL Monorail Project The RM1.17 billion KL Monorail privatisation project is an inner-city public transit system that serves the central business, hotel and shopping district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 8.6km long, dual guideway, straddle-beam elevated monorail system will begin from the Pekeliling Bus Terminal in the north, pass through Kuala Lumpur's 'Golden Triangle' before reaching KL Sentral in Brickfields. Fully elevated with 11 stations, the KL Monorail is capable of handling up to 18,000 passengers per hour per direction, operating at up to 2 minutes headway between trains. The KL Monorail construction is expected to complete at the end of 2001, while targetted to be fully operational at July 2002. ------------------------------ KUALA LUMPUR AIRPORT EXPRESS RAIL LINK The Express Rail Link (ERL) is a central element in the Malaysian government's strategy to enhance the role of the capital's international airport. From the main Kuala Lumpur Sentral rail terminus, the track runs southwards before deviating to cross the PLUS Expressway near the toll plaza for the University Putra Malaysia and terminates on the ground floor of the main terminal building. A fleet of 12 four-car
electric multiple units is being supplied by Siemens,
eight of which will be dedicated for use on ERL services.
Based on the successful ET425 design widely used in
Germany, the trains will have a top speed of 160 kph (100
mph). The other four units will be employed on CRS
commuter services, with higher density accommodation,
designed to carry 540 passengers (144 seated) per
four-car unit. The system will provide commuters between the city's People's Park and Gombak with a fast, efficient east-west route bypassing some of the most congested roads in the world. Completed during 1999, the system, at 29 kilometres long, is the longest fully-automated driverless metro system in the world. The PUTRA-LRT network has 24 stations along its 20-mile length, and has been constructed in two sections: Lembah Subang to Pasar Seni, and Pasar Seni to Ampang Park and Gombak. All of the first phase is on elevated single-track bridge sections, which are also used for 8 km of the 14.9 km of the second phase, in order to avoid conflict with existing roads as far as possible. The focal point of the system is People's Park, in the west of Kuala Lumpur and journey times to each end of the route will be 45 minutes to Gombak and 21 minutes to Pasar Seni. The vast majority of the system will be above ground, but 4.4km will be in tunnel with five stations also being constructed underground. The average speed of the trains is anticipated at 40 km/h (25 mph), with the initial service planned to carry between 10,000 and 16,000 passengers per hour in each direction, but with an ultimate capacity of 30,000 per hour each way. The system will operate for 18 hours a day, between 0600 and 2400. To ease monitoring of the system, stations are constructed to a standard design, each having the same 68-metre platform length. Gradients along the network will also be generally slight, with a maximum of 5% (1-in-20). This will enable an initial average speed of 38 km/h (23.6 mph). |