KUALA LUMPUR: The Klang Valley Double Track Phase 2 (KVDT2) upgrading project is expected to be completed next year, two years ahead of its original schedule.
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) chief operating officer Afzar Zakariya said the upgrading works were necessary to modernise ageing railway infrastructure that has been in use since 1994 when KTM Komuter’s electric train services first began operations.
“The existing infrastructure has been in operation for more than 30 years and needs to be upgraded.
“Once completed, train operations will be safer and smoother, passengers will enjoy greater comfort and we will be able to increase train frequency,” he told reporters during a media tour of the KVDT2 project yesterday.
The project involves 265km of double-track railway infrastructure, covering the Salak Selatan-Seremban and Abdullah Hukum-Pelabuhan Klang routes.
Afzar said the upgrades would allow the railway system to support heavier axle loads of 20 tonnes, compared with the current 16-tonne limit, in line with the government’s road-to-rail initiative.
He added that KTM Komuter frequency, which currently runs at intervals of about 20 minutes, could potentially be increased to 15 minutes, and to as low as every 7.5 minutes in certain sectors.
