MRT2 Sungai Buloh-Putrajaya line launch date to be revealed after completion of trial runs – Anthony Loke
A launch date for the MRT2 line from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya will be set once trial runs and fine-tuning of systems for the rail line have been completed, transport minister Anthony Loke has said, according to The Star.
“The completion of the second phase of the project will see an additional 24 stations opened. This will bring it to a total of 36 stations from Putrajaya Sentral to [Kwasa Damansara],” Loke was quoted as saying after taking a test ride on the rail line today.
There will be 10 interchange stations located along the line, with the Titiwangsa station to be developed as a public transportation hub, the transport minister said. “The Hospital Kuala Lumpur station is also considered one of the main stations on the route, [and] it will allow more patients and visitors to travel to the hospital,” Loke said, adding that the station will have a 400-metre travelator.
A total of 107 feeder buses will serve the MRT2 stations, and there will be 47 train sets which will be operated on the MRT2 line. The line is expected to have a ridership of 200,000 passengers a day within a year or two of its launch, said the transport minister according to The Star.
Prasarana Malaysia expects this to contribute to a total daily ridership of 1.2 million passengers across its rail and bus services when the MRT Putrajaya Line is opened in full, up from the 722,000-passenger volume of last year, it said last month.
The Phase 2 alignment of the Putrajaya Line was originally slated for completion in January, however MRT Corp announced in December that the 38.7 km-long section of the alignment is expected to be completed in March this year. This section consists of 15 elevated stations and nine underground stations.
Meanwhile for the MRT3 rail project, Loke said that the finance ministry is expected to approve the project soon, according to the report. Also known as the Circle Line, MRT3 was approved by the previous administration of then-prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in the first quarter of last year. This followed its cancellation by the earlier government under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.