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A
new rail link between Mentakab and
Kuantan Port will be developed
during the Eight Malaysia Plan
(2001-2005) that is expected to fuel
the development of the east coast of
Peninsular Malaysia as well as
extend the outreach of Kuantan Port.
“We
have highlighted the important of
the stretch to the Federal
Government to cater for the growing
volume of petroleum and
petrochemical products from various
plants at the Eastern Corridor,”
said the General Manager of KTM
Freight Services, Abdul Radzak Malek.
Radzak
said the completion of about 100km
rail line between Mentakab and
Kuantan Port would become a better
alternative to existing road network
for shippers to distribute raw
materials and finished products from
their plants to various domestic and
international destinations.
“Many
multi-national companies have
factories in Malaysian and Thailand
prefer to use the landbridge due to
the ability to move 50 TEUs
simultaneously and with shorter
transit time compared to twice the
time it takes by the sea leg. After
all rail transportation is faster
and cheaper, “ said Radzak.
He
added the growing popularity of rail
transportation could be seen from
the fact that a few years ago there
was not even a single landbridge
service between Malaysia and
Thailand but today there are a total
of 28 landbridge train services
between Malaysia-Thailand sector per
week.
“We
are looking at moving dangerous
cargoes such as petroleum products
and chemical products from East
Coast ports such as Kuantan Port and
Kerteh and railing them up to places
such as Rayong, Mahtaphut and
Sriracha, located near Laem Chabang
and Pattaya in Thailand,” he said.
Currently
PTP Landbridge Sdn Bhd operates via
the East Coast network through
Sungai Golok to inland destinations
in Thailand.
The
operator is transporting Surat Thani
traffic to Pasir Gudang or Singapore
for onwards shipment.
“If
shipment option via Kuantan Port is
viable, a portion of the traffic can
be transhipped via Kuantan Port when
the Mentakab - Kuantan Port links is
ready,” said Radzak.
“We
are also not going to compete with
the 72-km single track is being
developed by Petronas, the national
oil corporation which links the
integrated petrochemical complexes
in Kerteh, Terengganu with Kuantan
Port with a direct connection to
Gebeng Industrial Estate. In fact
when our proposal to government
materialises the sub-line developed
by Petronas will have access to
national railway grid. We will be
complementing our services,” noted
Radzak.
“The
future of the landbridge is very
positive and we foresee that more
people will use it and when the link
between Mentakab and Kuantan is
completed, we are confident Kuantan
Port will be handling substantial
portion of traffic from the
Trans-Asian Rail link from Singapore
to Kunming in China which is
connected to major container
terminal, depots, sea and river
ports and the industrial site along
the line,” he added.
“Our
landbridge link between Malaysia and
Thailand will be further extended up
to and from Yangoon, Phnom Penh,
Danang, Laos and Kunming if the
missing link between Arayaprathet in
Thailand and Sisophon, Cambodia is
completed. Work on the 48km missing
link is progressing with the move by
the State Railway of Thailand to
engage consultant to do an
engineering study,” said Radzak.
He
also said the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(ESCAP) was having a discussion on
the development of the Asia-Europe
block train service.
Once
completed the whole link will not
only offer an alternative to the all
blue-water transport mode but also
offers significant saving in time
and money in transporting cargo
across the region.
The
development of the cross continent
block train services is seen as
having enormous potentials for
growth, although the infrastructure
in certain regions may need
development and upgrading.
Once
the full rail network has been
completed Kuantan Port as the
petrochemical hub port will be
benefiting more than other points in
the country, said Radzak.
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