MALAYSIA Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) said installation works for the first track of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project – for the route from Gebeng in Kuantan to Dungun, Terengganu – is to start at the end of the year.

MRL regional construction manager (Pahang) Khairi Khalid Abdul Rahman said it involves a 90km route and is expected to be completed in three to four months before installation works continue from Gebeng to Maran.

“We hope to lay 1.5km of track per day for the Gebeng-Dungun route. The installation work starts in Gebeng because the equipment used including track laying machines from China are coming here in line with the project planning.

“All the equipment will arrive at Kuantan Port between October and November, to enable the installation of the track in Pahang,” he said when met at the ECRL Raya open house in Kuantan today.

Also present was Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who gave Raya money to 30 orphaned children.

Khairi said 231km of the ECRL project is located in Pahang, involving about 152km of level track with the rest over bridges and through tunnels.

As for the work on bridges, Khairi said the installation of viaduct beams is progressing well, with about 5km of the bridge route in Pahang done so far.

“There are two beam installation machines called beam launchers being used in Kuantan for work over Sungai Kuantan and in Temerloh for work over Sungai Pahang. We expect the bridge to be completed by the end of this year or early 2024,” he said.

As for the Genting Twin Tunnel, which will be the longest rail tunnel in Southeast Asia when it is completed, Khairi said so far, 2.5km has been excavated across the Titiwangsa Range. 

This leg of the project makes use of a tunnel boring machine instead of drilling and blasting. Work started last June and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. – Bernama, May 17, 2023.