MRT SBK phase two connects the unconnected

KUALA LUMPUR: Just one week more and phase two of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line will be entirely completed to begin operating and serve its role particularly in facilitating travel for the population in previously underserved areas.

MRT Strategic Communication and Stakeholder Relations director Datuk Najmuddin Abdullah said the SBK Line which is the first of three planned Klang Valley MRT lines consisted of 19 new stations, of which seven are located underground. “Fourteen of the new stations are strategically located in densely populated areas which have never been served by any urban rail services,” he told Bernama.

The 14 stations are Muzium Negara, Tun Razak Exchange Centre, Cochrane, Taman Pertama, Taman Midah, Taman Connaught, Suntex, Sri Raya, Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Batu Sebelas Cheras, Bukit Dukung, Sungai Jernih, Merdeka and Taman Mutiara.

He said stations were also built to integrate other rail services such as KTM Komuter, Light Rail Transit and Monorel to provide seamless and convenient connectivity for the public.

For example, he said, the linkway for pedestrians between Muzium Negara station and KL Sentral was built in order to integrate the service.

“So if we look from one end to the other end of this alignment, as I’ve said, the majority of the stations are serving the underserved areas.”

Najmuddin said connecting stations also played a crucial role.

“Because from there it gives opportunities for our passengers and commuters to get connected with other rail service and every station plays an important role,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is scheduled to launch the second phase of the SBK line on July 17, allowing the train to run the entire 51km alignment from Sungai Buloh to Kajang.

The first phase covering 21 kilometres from Sungai Buloh to Semantan consisting of 12 stations became fully operational in December last year.

Work is currently underway for MRT’s second line, the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line, which is targeted for completion in 2022 while the third line is still on the drawing board.

The MRT SBK Line covers north-west of Kuala Lumpur and runs through the capital city before ending in Kajang, a fast developing town to the southeast of the city.

It will serve as a corridor with a population of 1.2 million people linking their homes with their destinations in the city. The 23 billion ringgit project was approved by the government in December 2010 and construction of the line was officially launched on July 8, 2011 by Najib.

The project was also made an Entry Point Project of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) under the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley National Key Economic Area (NKEA).

Each train set serving the SBK line will have four cars, allowing a total capacity of 1,200 passengers per trip with daily ridership estimated to be about 430,000 passengers. The trains will run at a frequency of 3.5 minutes. – Bernama