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In a move aimed at seizing the vast
opportunities for growth in the
carriage of freight in the country,
as well as in cross-border trades,
KTM Bhd, the national railway
corporation, is now focusing its
business strategy in expanding its
capacity by acquiring more rolling
stocks and improving its capability
in rail freight transportation.
A major boost in this direction will
come from the delivery of several
new units of locomotives the high
powered "Blue Tiger" locomotives
from General Electric.
The first batch of 20 units of the
AC/AC mainline diesel electric "Blue
Tiger" locomotives at a cost of RM
245 million will be delivered in
June this year.
According to the managing director
of KTM Bhd, Mohd Salleh Abdullah the
delivery of the new locomotives will
mark an important milestone in the
railway corporation's efforts to
enhance its service level and
freight transportation capacity to
shippers.
The Blue Tiger locomotives, which
have a life-span of 25-30 years
lifespan is an improvement version
from the present AC/DC locomotives
that are being used by KTM.
The new locomotives which have
3,000hp will fulfill KTM Bhd
requirements to pull heavier and
longer freight trains.
"Effectively the new equipment will
enhance our pulling capacity to
2,300 tonnes compared with present
1,200 pulling capacity, "said Salleh.
KTM Bhd requires high powered
locomotives like Blue Tiger as the
double track line of the north-south
rail line will allow a capacity to
pull 60 laden containers or 80
empties per train at one time from
present of 40 TEUs per train.
"This requires high-powered
locomotives like Blue Tiger and the
deliveries of 40 new units will
raise the present fleet of 94
locomotives to 134 by 2004, "said
Salleh.
Salleh said KTM Bhd was set to
aggressively promote rail
transportation as the best
alternative option to move cargo in
bulk efficiently and effectively.
"We will continue to enhance the
service level and explore market
with various new products during the
year," said Salleh
He said the importance of rail
transportation has received adequate
attention from the government.
"This is also reflected in the
allocation of RM616 million for the
upgrading of rail infrastructures
for the year 2003-2004," said Salleh.
Salleh said as a first step KTM
would be upgrading its track
capacity to handle 20 axle load from
current 16 axle load between Padang
Rengas in Perak to Port Klang.
"This is important for us to capture
additional cement traffic from the
key players in the stretch namely
Perak-Hanjoong Simen, Lafarge
Malayan Cement, Cement Industries of
Malaysia and Tasek Cement," he
added.
Meanwhile, the general manager of
KTM Bhd Freight Services, Abdul
Radzak Malek said container traffic
continued to remain as the core
contributor of KTM Bhd' revenue
totaling RM99 million in 2002.
He said KTM Bhd handled 164,000 TEUs
of domestic containers and 50,000
TEUs of landbridge containers.
"Carriage of containers contributed
some RM55 million or close to 60 per
cent of the revenue. Contribution of
the sector is expected to grow
further with the acquisition of
additional rolling stocks in 2002,"
he added.
KTM has taken delivery of 195 bogie
container flats from MMC's assembly
plant in Perak in 2002.
The BCF generally has a load
capacity of 45 tonnes and each unit
is capable of carrying two 20ft ISO
containers and deployed in the
various route of the block train
service.
"The deliveries have raised our
total BCF units from 3,200 units to
3,395 units," said Radzak.
Radzak also said the railway
corporation has started to take
delivery of rolling stocks for the
carriage of refrigerated cargoes.
The first batch of the 55 special
bogies with temperature-controlled
reefer points was delivered in
December 2002.
The second batch of 25 units will be
delivered in January and are
expected to be commissioned by
February 2003
Radzak said: "Initially we plan to
run the service domestically, before
extending the service to explore the
potential for the transportation of
refrigerated goods such as fresh
water fish, fruits and flowers from
Thailand and Singapore."
In year 2003 will also mark the
expanding reach of KTM Bhd to the
East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia
where it would be extending its
expertise to operate the new link
between Kertih-Kuantan developed by
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas),
to serve Kertih integrated
petrochemical complexes in
Terengganu and Gebeng integrated
petrochemical complex in Kuantan.
The single-track line of 75km allows
freight services a speed of up to 80
kms per hour and will serve for the
transportation of raw petrochemical
material and finished products (both
in liquid and solid state) like
ammonia, acetic acid, PVC, VCM,
paraxylene, benzene, ethylene and
propylene.
In the initial stages the new
service will handle 35 to 40 TEUs or
one and a half trains load of cargo
daily via Kuantan Port.
"We are also looking into the
possibility of acquiring car-
carrier units. This will be the new
business venture for KTM Bhd as we
have the capability to carry cars in
bulk from the Proton City and
Serendah direct to Port Klang," said
Radzak. Ports World. |
