KUANTAN: The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a mega-rail project, which is expected to be completed in Dec 2026, reached 56.3 per cent completion last month.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who described this year as the peak year of the ECRL construction, said everything is progressing as planned and the project is on track to be completed according to schedule.
"ECRL has achieved another milestone today with the installation of the first track at Kuantan Port City (KPC) in Gebeng. The 94km track installation between KPC in Gebeng to Dungun, Terengganu is expected to take about three and half months to complete.
"The track installation between KPC and Maran will begin in March next year and the entire track works is expected to be completed in two years. This will be followed with the final components which involve the ECRL depots and railroad signalling systems before the project commissioning.
"The KPC project site will serve as the midpoint for the track installation works as the track components are stored here. The Construction Railway Operation Control Centre located at KPC will monitor the track installation works and serve as the ECRL depot in the future," he told reporters after the inauguration of the track-laying ceremony at the Section 10 ECRL station site here.
Earlier, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah had graced the event.
In his speech, Loke recorded his appreciation to Al-Sultan Abdullah and Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah for gracing the track laying event which was also their first visit to a ECRL construction site.
Meanwhile, Loke said the ECRL project entered a new phase of construction since the beginning of this year which includes the installation of viaduct beams, building stations and construction of train depots.
"Soon, the progress will involve the construction of railway electrification system, train signalling system and telecommunications for passengers and cargo trains. In terms of manpower, at present more than 23,000 workers are deployed at 1,900 construction sites along the alignment.
"The ECRL project will see the construction of 40 tunnels with a length of more than 60km along its alignment to avoid posing a threat to wildlife and reduce logging at forest reserves. Adopting the drill and blast method, the project has successfully achieved 26 tunnel breakthroughs to date.
"Excavation works for the 16.39km Genting Tunnel, which is expected to break through in the second quarter of 2025,has reached a depth of nearly six kilometres on both sides of the tunnel. Upon completion, the Genting tunnel will be the longest rail tunnel in Southeast Asia," he said.
Meanwhile, Loke said the ECRL project has seen the participation of more than 2,800 local firms consisting of contractors, consultants and suppliers between 2017 and October this year.
"The contract value for local firms has fetched some RM12.99 billion compared to the RM10.8 billion target for the project's civil works. A total of RM2.59 billion or 74 per cent of the target of RM3.5 billion of ECRL civil works has been awarded to Bumiputera contractors, consultants and suppliers," he said.
Describing the ECRL as a game changer to bridge the development gap between the east coast and west coast, Loke said people in Kuantan can reach Kuala Lumpur in one hour and 30 minutes by ECRL compared to three hours on the road.
The 665km-long ECRL, which was initially launched in 2017 before it got back on track in 2019, will traverse the east coast states of Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu through to the Klang Valley.
