First automated rapid transit system arrives in Malaysia
Carriages for Malaysia’s first automated rapid transit system arrived on January 20 in the country’s southern state of Johor, the site for a pilot testing programme to be launched in Iskandar Malaysia in the first quarter of 2021.
Malaysia will be the first country in the region to potentially adopt this technology which enables carriages to automatically navigate their own route, traveling up to 70 km/h and carrying more than 300 passengers in three carriages, expandable to approximately 500 passengers in five carriages.
The system is a medium capacity transit facility for urban passenger transport using leading edge technology, including sensors that read virtual tracks on the road, enabling it to stay on on its route.
It allows for higher passenger capacity at a lower cost of implementation as compared to traditional light-rail systems since no rails or other specific structures are necessary, and it operates on clean sources of energy such as electricity or hydrogen.
Roll-out in a joint-venture with China’s CRRC
The system is being implemented by Mobilus, a 51:49 joint venture company established between Malaysia’s engineering and construction firm Ireka Corp and CRRC Urban Traffic, a member of CRRC Group, a Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer.
“This is a great step forward for our urban transportation business in the year ahead,” Ireka’s group managing director Lai Voon Hon said.
The system will be one of the test lines for the larger Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit project, a comprehensive transit system for Iskandar Malaysia that will cover a network of more than 2,000 kilometers in its first phase.
Road congestion reduced by 20 per cent
In China, automated rapid transit is being rapidly adopted in various cities across the country, with the latest system having been launched in Yibin, Sichuan, in December 2019. The line there runs over 17.7 kilometers through the central business district of Yibin and connects to the high-speed railway terminal in that city. It is reported that more than 25,000 daily commuters are currently using the line, and traffic congestion in the city dropped by 20 per cent since opening.
Automated rapid transit is already widely used in China Carriages for Malaysia’s first automated rapid transit system arrived on January 20 in the country’s southern state of Johor, the site for a pilot testing programme to be launched in Iskandar Malaysia in the first quarter of 2021. Malaysia will be the first country in the region to potentially adopt this technology which enables carriages to automatically navigate their own route, traveling up to 70 km/h and carrying more than 300 passengers in three carriages, expandable to approximately 500 passengers in five carriages. The system is a medium capacity transit facility...
Carriages for Malaysia’s first automated rapid transit system arrived on January 20 in the country’s southern state of Johor, the site for a pilot testing programme to be launched in Iskandar Malaysia in the first quarter of 2021.
Malaysia will be the first country in the region to potentially adopt this technology which enables carriages to automatically navigate their own route, traveling up to 70 km/h and carrying more than 300 passengers in three carriages, expandable to approximately 500 passengers in five carriages.
The system is a medium capacity transit facility for urban passenger transport using leading edge technology, including sensors that read virtual tracks on the road, enabling it to stay on on its route.
It allows for higher passenger capacity at a lower cost of implementation as compared to traditional light-rail systems since no rails or other specific structures are necessary, and it operates on clean sources of energy such as electricity or hydrogen.
Roll-out in a joint-venture with China’s CRRC
The system is being implemented by Mobilus, a 51:49 joint venture company established between Malaysia’s engineering and construction firm Ireka Corp and CRRC Urban Traffic, a member of CRRC Group, a Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer.
“This is a great step forward for our urban transportation business in the year ahead,” Ireka’s group managing director Lai Voon Hon said.
The system will be one of the test lines for the larger Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit project, a comprehensive transit system for Iskandar Malaysia that will cover a network of more than 2,000 kilometers in its first phase.
Road congestion reduced by 20 per cent
In China, automated rapid transit is being rapidly adopted in various cities across the country, with the latest system having been launched in Yibin, Sichuan, in December 2019. The line there runs over 17.7 kilometers through the central business district of Yibin and connects to the high-speed railway terminal in that city. It is reported that more than 25,000 daily commuters are currently using the line, and traffic congestion in the city dropped by 20 per cent since opening.
