Power outage on Penang Hill forces funicular train to run at half speed


The iconic Penang Hill funicular train. — Filepic

GEORGE TOWN: A power outage on Penang Hill on Wednesday (Dec 8) evening has left the funicular train service running at only 50% speed for the time being.

The outage occurred when a contractor working on the hill station accidentally knocked down a Tenaga Nasional Malaysia (TNB) cable pole, causing a blackout.

Penang Hill Corporation general manager Datuk Cheok Lay Leng said the trains were running as normal powered by a generator set, but at a lower speed.

"There has not been any major disruption to the funicular train service, but it is running at 50% of its normal speed since it is on a genset," he said on Thursday (Dec 9).

Cheok said TNB personnel were already at the site to repair the cable and pole.

"We hope power will be restored as soon as possible, as the community on the hill would be affected if the outage goes on," he added.

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