It has been almost two years since I took the KTMB commuter during the rush hour. Much has been said about the deplorable services of KTMB commuter lately and even our flip-flop PM got a taste of it.
Recently I took a ride on a commuter train from Subang Jaya station to the city, with a horde of office workers rushing to reach their office on time. Entered one of the coaches that seem to be not that crowded... wow what a surprise.......No wonder the coach is not fill to the brim. The aircond system in the coach is leaking and once in a while water started pouring down to the floor.
The KTMB commuter used to be a reliable commuter service. What is the cause of the malaise?
Under the current structure, the oversight of public transportation, including the railway industry, is under the Cabinet committee on public transportation.
KTMB is a wholly Government-owned corporation and for huge works like major overhauls and purchasing new rolling stocks, it has to rely on Government funding. The Ministry of Transport overseer the running of KTMB. This is where our present and past governement failed to do so.
KTMB was corporatised on August 1, 1992 under the Railways Act 1991, and placed under the management of the Renong Bhd-led consortium Marak Unggul Sdn Bhd on August 1, 1997. Renong owns 50 per cent of Marak Unggul, while DRB-HICOM Bhd has 25 per cent and Bolton Bhd holds 20 per cent. The remaining 5 per cent is held by Jasa Meta Sdn Bhd. In 2001, the Government decided to put the privatisation of KTMB on hold after it rejected a proposal submitted by Marak Unggul, which had managed it for four years. Industry observers cited Renong's debts as the reason. Also, Marak Unggul was to have injected RM100 million into KTMB when it took over, but it did not do so.
In a particularly frank press conference in Gemas in last year, KTMB Managing Director, Mohd Salleh pointed out a few disturbing facts. He said in the late 1990s when KTMB was under private management i.e. under Marak Unggul Sdn Bhd (an interim arrangement prior to full privatisation which was eventually abandoned), a lot of maintenance work was deferred.“None of the KTM Komuter trains have been overhauled as required by the maintenance schedule” he said
In 2006, the Government approved the allocation for the overhaul of 50 KTM Komuter trains. However, the RM170mil contract took about year to be awarded and work began at the end of last year. And in July 2008, Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat announced that there would be further delays in the overhaul job. They were supposed to get 15 trains ready by July but now, only three would be ready by that time. The contractor is Malaysian Korean Railway Company (MKRC) a subsidiary of Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd.?
The Transport Ministry on 22nd August 2008 took firm action by taking back 30 of 50 commuter trains from MKRC for the overhaul work. There was no mentioning who will take-over the overhaul work of the 30 trains.Ong said the trains withdrawn were 10 units of Class 81 and 20 units of Class 82 while the contract for 20 units of Class 83 would remain with MKRC as the company had already overhauled seven. He said the 20 of Class 83 would be ready by December to add to the 27 existing ones to meet the increase in number of commuters till the end of next year.
In selecting three different types of model from three countries partly contribute to the KTMB commuter problem.
The three models are:
1. 18 Class 81 EMUs (designations EMU 01 to EMU 18) manufactured by Jenbacher Transport in Austria-Hungary (1994/1995)2. 22 Class 83 EMUs (designations EMU 19 to EMU 40) manufactured by Hyundai (HPID)-now known as ROTEM(1996/1997)
3. 22 Class 82 EMUs (designations EMU 41 to EMU 62) manufactured by Union Carriage and Wagon in South Africa (1996/1997)
3. 22 Class 82 EMUs (designations EMU 41 to EMU 62) manufactured by Union Carriage and Wagon in South Africa (1996/1997)
Of the three manufacturers, I think only two still available, which are the UCW of South Africa and ROTEM from Korea, Ganz Hunslet and Jenbacher seems extinct now.
With three different models, which come with different configurations and operating manuals, it is quite a task for KTMB maintenance crew. Sourcing and maintaining spare parts will be a costly affairs.
As comparison, our LRT system:PUTRALINE which was operational in 1998 and STARALINE in 1996 utilised a singlee train model respectively and do not experience acute problems with their rolling stocks.
(Note: PUTRALINE (now know as Kelana Jaya LRT Line) and STARLINE(now known as Ampang and Sri Petaling LRT Line) was started by private companies and.... KTMB's decision maker is the ministries!).
