Safety of KTMB Railway Line from Gemas to Gua Musang under Scrutiny

Kakitangan KTMB, memantau dan melakukan siasatan awal kemalangan yang melibatkan gerabak Tren Sinaran Selatan, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad

A few days back i had received a letter (since it is P&C i will not disclose the letter) detailing certain safety issues with respect to a portion of the 300 KM railway line from Gemas to Gua Musang which is currently being operated by KTMB. I was also made known that there are approximately 39 unsafe area throughout the line from Gemas to Gua Musang. 

Gua Musang Train Station

Before i go into detail, let me share a little background on the Gemas to Gua Musang line so that the readers can understand and appreciate the issue that we will be discussing here. The East Cost line was opened on 5th September 1931, which up till today has been in operation for a whopping 83 years! Due to this, i think that the issues we are facing is severe and needs to be addressed immediately to avoid any untoward incident happening in the near future. 

This safety issue that we are discussing cropped up due to an inspection done by KTMB and also some internal data that they have from previous inspection programs. Now, knowing that this line (Gemas to Gua Musang) is a safety hazard to the public, the Public Land Transport Commission (SPAD) has taken a proactive approach in addressing this issue by issuing a limited operating hours instruction to KTMB. The limited operating hours for Gemas to Gua Musang is a minimum of  12 hours to a maximum of 20 hours per day.  This limited operating hours was enforced to ensure that KTMB has the time to repair the Gemas to Gua Musang line to ensure that it is safe to be used. 

Derailment of KTMB train in Singapore

As we know, there has been railway accidents on the East-Coast Line previously. In 2008, two Ekspres Wau train coaches with 100 passengers onboard was derailed at Kampung Sungai Yu, Merapoh, resulting in three (3) people critically injured. (Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/two-ktm-coaches-carrying-100-passengers-derail) 

Due to the above, let's learn from our mistakes and ensure that these type of incidents does not happen again. Personally, i think this is a good move by SPAD to allow KTMB to operate for a limited time and in parallel execute the repair works to ensure safety of passengers.  We look more to the proactive action taken by SPAD to ensure the safety of land transport is up to the mark. This in return will increase the confidence of the rakyat to use public transport as a primary mode of transportation rather than private cars.