Govt urged to expedite KVDT2 to prevent another rail disaster

 

Following the Kelana Jaya LRT collision, the government has been urged to expedite the rehabilitation of KTM tracks to prevent another incident.

In a statement, the Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya (RUM) opined that certain KTM tracks were in “critical condition”.

It thus reiterated its call for phase two of the Klang Valley Double Tracking (KVDT2) project to resume without delay.

“On behalf of the safety of the workers and passengers, RUM begs the government to please speed up the repair on the KVDT2 tracks. Don’t allow KTM Berhad to continue this way because workers and users will become victims [...]

“RUM urges the government, especially the prime minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) and finance minister (Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz), to intervene and resolve the KVDT2 project.

“Don’t wait until someone has been sacrificed, don’t wait until it is too late just because of mistakes done by certain parties,” it said on Facebook yesterday.

The union pointed to two recent KTM derailments.

Last month, a passenger train derailed near the UKM station in Bangi when the wheels of its last two coaches deviated from the tracks. Seventy passengers were reportedly onboard and no casualties were recorded.

In February, 11 out of 50 coaches of a KTM cargo train derailed near the Batu Tiga station in Shah Alam. No casualties were recorded.

The KVDT2 project has been put on hold after the Transport Ministry decided in Aug 2020 to reopen the tender.

Minister Wee Ka Siong said the project was “overpriced”. The project, originally awarded during the Najib Abdul Razak administration, had already been pared down from RM5.265 billion to RM4.475 billion by the Pakatan Harapan government.

The matter is now in court after existing contractor Dhaya Maju LTAT challenged its termination.

Black sheep?

Meanwhile, RUM expressed concern over Wee’s initial move to blame a LRT hostler for the May 24 collision.

“Even if there was no collision, with old train tracks, derailments are not impossible and this will involve the lives of workers and users.

“It is also not impossible for the authorities to easily blame the workers or management if something happens.

“Like how the Transport Ministry placed the initial blame on the train hostler. It appears to RUM that (the hostler) has been made into a black sheep,” it remarked.

Wee previously blamed a “negligent” hostler for driving an empty train in the wrong direction and causing the collision.

After criticism over his conclusion, he clarified that the ministry’s probe was also considering other factors.

The Monday night crash resulted in 213 injured passengers, three of whom needed intensive care for brain haemorrhage. It is the worst crash in LRT history.

Preliminary findings determined that an empty train that was controlled manually (TR240) had collided head-on with a driverless passenger-filled train (TR181) on the same track in an underground tunnel.

Both trains were travelling at a speed of less than 40km per hour. - Mkini