Rail Transportation
The Malaysian government is on a long-term economic transformation and structural reform path as the country gears towards its vision of becoming a high-income nation by 2020. The Group’s track record of successfully delivering infrastructure-related works in various industries has placed George Kent in a strong position to support the government’s ETP initiatives and their related projects.
A) Ampang LRT Line Extension Project (LEP)
A notable example of this is George Kent’s move into the rail transportation sector as the lead member of a consortium that has been commissioned to engineer, procure, construct, test and commission the system works for the Ampang LRT Line Extension Project (LEP). The Ampang line extends 18.1km from Sri Petaling to Putra Heights in Kuala Lumpur and includes 11 new stations. Work commenced in 31 July 2012 and is due for completion by 31 March 2016.
George Kent is the systems works contractor for the Ampang LEP in Malaysia. The scope of work under this contract includes design engineering, procurement, construction of the rail and the Operation Control Center (OCC), power, communications, signaling and integration, testing and commissioning of all systems. The contract also includes the upgrading and modernisation of the existing Ampang line’s systems to enable seamless operations using new modern driverless train technology. This prestigious project is widely considered the most complex railway systems contract in Malaysia to-date.
George Kent is the first Malaysian company to lead and deliver the rail system works for an LRT project in Malaysia. The consortium led by George Kent has also been nominated as the supplier for the Train Borne Equipment for the Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) contractors under the project.
The new line extension includes:
- New elevated and at-grade guide-ways for 15 line segments (LS);
- 11 train stations, from Station 1 (Awan Besar) to Station 13 (Putra Heights);
- Nine traction power sub-stations (TPSS) and one new Depot TPSS;
- A new OCC; and
- A new fully equipped train depot at Kg. Kuala Sungai Baru.
The System Works is an EPC concept that includes the following works:
- Traction and auxiliary power distribution
- Communications & supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
- Lightning & surge protection
- Signaling & communication base train control (CBTC)
- New OCC
- Depot equipment
On 30 June 2016, the Ampang LRT Line Extension Project was launched by Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, signifying it was fully operational and open to the public in entirety. The planned 11 stations were fully completed with 8 already operating earlier. The alignment has an integrated station in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya.
B) Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3)
The Group and our partner won the LRT3 contract in September 2015 through competitive bidding, making us the Project Delivery Partner to Prasarana Malaysia Berhad to construct 37.6km of elevated guideways, tracks and power rails, including 26 stations. The line will function as a backbone to provide rail connectivity between the Western Corridor of the Klang Valley and Kuala Lumpur City Centre through the integration of five stations.
The Government eventually decided to change the project's structure from the aforementioned PDP model to a fixed-price contract. The scope of work for the 37km line was revised: the number of cars per train was halved to three from six, whilst the number of trains was reduced from 42 units to 22. Fewer cars per train meant the station platforms, as well as station and depot sizes, could be scaled down. Besides simplifying the stations' specifications, the number of stations was also brought down to 20 from 26. Removed from the plan were a 2km tunnel, a below-ground station, and new feeder buses. The project's completion date was lengthened by four years to 2024 to remove the earlier need for acceleration expenses.
The Group, through our joint-venture company MRCB George Kent Sdn Bhd ('JV company'), signed on 25 January 2019 the revised contract for the RM11.4 billion LRT 3 project.
On 13 October 2021, the Group has divested its 50% equity interest in the single purpose JV company to unlock and monetise its initial cost of investment which will allow the Group to venture into new growth areas and expand its role in the domestic and regional railway space under the 12ᵗʰ Malaysia Plan and Industry 4.0, leveraging on its expertise as a rail systems specialist in railway projects.
The LRT 3 line will incorporate features such as:
- Communications-Based Train Controls (CBTC)
- Automatic Train Controls (ATC)
- Passenger Information Display System (PIDS)
- Fire Protection System
- Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
- Automatic Fare Collection (AFC)
C) MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line - Work Package SSP-SY-2014
George Kent and Joint Venture partner were awarded the System Work Package of the MRT SSP Line valued at RM1.01 billion by Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) in August 2016. The Line is 52.2 km in length with a total of 37 stations, 11 of which are underground.
The work package covers the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of trackworks, maintenance vehicles and works trains. The Line will stretch from Sungei Buloh to Putrajaya, and will include Sri Damansara, Kepong, Batu, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, KLCC, Tun Razak Exchange, Kuchai Lama, Seri Kembangan and Cyberjaya.
To position it for success, George Kent has made significant investments, particularly on the people front where it has built a multi-disciplinary team comprising local and foreign transportation and rail industry professionals and experts. This gives the Group a strong foundation and clear competitive edge on which to bid, win and undertake future technology critical projects related to rail transportation, locally and regionally.