MRL CEO Datuk Seri Darwis Abdul Razak speaking with the Malaysian media delegation in Beijing
- “Hopefully, it would be part of the Pan Asian [Railway] (from Kunming, China, to Singapore).”
KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) has not discounted the proposal to extend the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) from its current final station up north in Kota Bharu, Kelantan into Thailand’s Sungai Golok, said its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Darwis Abdul Razak.
The proposal remains on the cards at a time when the government of Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to revive an existing rail line between Pasir Mas in Kelantan and Sungai Golok under Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB), which will reconnect the rail network between the two countries to Thailand’s capital Bangkok, as announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook in May.
The KTMB line, damaged by floods in 2006 and left idle since, presents a right-of-way that could allow ECRL to build a line parallel to KTMB’s — as done from Serendah to Jalan Kastam in Selangor, Darwis said.
“Instead of going to Pengkalan Kubor, we (ECRL) [can] go to Rantau Panjang (near Thailand’s border). That is the proposal that we are looking at now.
“Hopefully, it would be part of the Pan Asian [Railway] (from Kunming, China, to Singapore). Eventually, if we can cross over there, then all the way to Laos, Kunming, and all that. That is the hope,” he told the Malaysian press at a media briefing in Beijing on June 17.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah reportedly said in Parliament last November that an extension from ECRL’s Kota Bharu station to Rantau Panjang would cost around RM2 billion.
Darwis, at the briefing, said that the extension would see a 14km-long railway from the Kota Bharu station in Bandar Baru Tunjong to Pasir Mas, and another 18km to Rantau Panjang, for a total extension of 32km.
The 665km-ECRL line from Kota Bharu to Port Klang’s Jalan Kastam station is touted as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), seeking to connect the country with the surrounding economies through transportation and logistics infrastructure.
ECRL’s ability of shortening land travel time between the less developed states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, with the country’s busiest ports in Klang, Selangor, is a milestone in itself.
However, the cross-border connectivity with Thailand is also a key objective and is “very important” to fully utilise the infrastructure’s potential and fulfil the BRI’s ambition, those involved with projects under the initiative have said.
In terms of rail network in the region, Thailand has a high-speed rail project from Bangkok to Nong Khai, bordering Laos, slated for completion by 2030, while Laos has a rail service with train sets, called rolling stocks, similar to ECRL, that links the country’s Vientiane city near Thailand’s border all the way to Kunming, which has started operations since 2021.
Malaysia also has an existing rail line run by KTMB in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, that settles in Padang Besar, after which passengers can swith to a Thai train to head to Bangkok.
