Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim revealed during his recent China working visit that Malaysia and China have agreed to extend the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) to Kelantan’s Rantau Panjang, which borders Thailand, Bernama reports.
“Further discussions on the ECRL proposal will be held with all stakeholders before it is brought to the cabinet for consideration,” Anwar said, adding that his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul also fed back positively on the proposal.
This would not only stimulate economic activity in the remote areas of Kelantan which had previously been left behind, but also establish a direct transport link with Thailand, he said.
Expected to begin operating in January, the 665-km railway connects Kota Bharu to Port Klang via 20 stations including Gombak, cutting travel time to as little as four hours from seven by road (or over 12 hours during festive seasons).
There will be 11 six-car trainsets, each capable of carrying 425 passengers in full economy class configuration. These 160 km/h trains will have toilets, luggage racks, an F&B counter, prayer facilities and OKU-friendly features, and there’ll be mobile phone reception throughout the alignment.
There are currently two Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway lines that enter Thailand – the West Coast Line at Padang Besar and the decades-disused Rantau Panjang branch line, which splits off from the East Coast Line at Pasir Mas. Sungai Golok is the immediate station on the Thai side; Rantau Panjang is on the Malaysian side.
“jual negara ke china”
sangat biadap najib jual anak melayu proton kepada geely china!!!! Sekarang dah jadi anak xi jin ping!!
This is like kind of enabling ECRL staff to take part in smuggling activities ..just like MAS airline pilot!!
this is bad news as it will allow even more people from SG4 stattes to come disturb the peace and harmony of klang valley.
this is good news as it makes it easier for M men to travel to thailand to secretly marry extra wife.
China laughing as they can continue to sell this outdated train to malaysia
Equivalent outdated spec will cost 150% to 300% more if you get it from France/Spain/Germany/Korea/Japan
I am actually wondering what kind of costing the Malaysian government has done on this railway. So if they charge ticket prices too high, there will not be enough ridership. If they charge it too low, it will be a long time before they will recoup.
Aye, you can say the train can be used to move goods – that is true but to what end? From Rantau Panjang, where does it go? To ships in Kota Bharu? Doesn’t make economic sense. To Thailand? I am not familiar with that part of Thailand so I am not sure if they have a suitable train service or lorry service to move onwards.
The second issue is who is footing the bill for this? Both in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, China agreed to foot the initial cost and then expected the respective countries to pay them back – with interest of course. The issue of course was when both these countries could not pay back the cost. The fine print in both countries was that China would take over both ports – and they did! So China ended up getting 2 ports at cost! I am worried about Malaysia on this score.