MRL East Coast Rail Link

The project provides for the double tracking and standard gauge railway line. The infrastructure includes spur lines, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, depots, stations and a signalling system.

Chairman: Tan Sri Mohammad Zuki Ali

Director: Dato’ Sri Fauzi Abdul Rahman

According to the first realignment, the inter-city passenger trains will use 6 car-train sets for EMUs travelling at 160 km per hour, cutting travel time from Kota Bharu to Putrajaya and Port Klang to around four and six hours respectively. The freight (cargo) trains use electric locomotives running at 80 km per hour.[6][7]

Meanwhile, for international freight service from China to Europe via Malaysia, the original alignment of ECRL is expected to help reduce the shipping time by as much as 30 hours.[8][9]

The project provides 20 stations, comprising 14 passenger stations, 5 combined passenger and freight stations, and 1 freight station.[10]

• Section A[11]
  • Kota Bharu (6°3′8″N 102°14′0″E, elevated, passenger only)
  • Pasir Puteh (5°48′19″N 102°21′56″E, passenger only)
  • Jerteh (5°42′2″N 102°29′1″E, passenger only)
  • Bandar Permaisuri (5°31′17″N 102°44′14″E, passenger only)
  • Kuala Terengganu (5°10′19″N 103°5′56″E, actually located in Marang District, passenger only)
  • Pengkalan Berangan (proposed, 5°5′22″N 103°9′15″E, passenger only)
  • Dungun (4°44′20″N 103°23′5″E, passenger and freight)
• Section B
  • Kemasik – Chukai – Cherating – Kuantan Port City – Kuantan Port City 2 – Kota SAS – Gambang – Maran
• Section C
  • Temerloh - Kemasul (proposed) – Klawang – Nilai Sentral – Putrajaya Sentral – Jenjarom – Westport

The proposed alignment for Phase 1 of the railway features 22 stations running along a 600.3 km route. The new rail link is projected to connect passengers from Kota Bharu in Kelantan to ITT Gombak in Selangor in less than four hours.[21]

It will start north of Kuala Lumpur at the Integrated Transport Terminal Gombak (ITT Gombak), the future interchange with the Kelana Jaya Line and main long-distance bus terminal. From the Klang Valley the line will run east through the state of Pahang, serving the towns of Bentong, Mentakab, Maran and Gambang, Kota SAS before reaching the state capital, Kuantan where there will be two stations namely Kuantan Port City 2 (freight) and Kuantan Port City 1 (passenger).

From Kuantan, the line will turn north to Cherating before entering the state of Terengganu, where it will serve the towns of Chukai, Kemasik, Kerteh (Provisional), Dungun, Pengkalan Berangan, state capital Kuala Terengganu as well as via Telaga Papan and Kampung Raja area.

The ECRL will continue north into Kelantan, serving stations at Tok Bali and Jelawat, before ending at Kota Bharu.[22]

The rail link includes a total of 50 km of tunnelling and underground alignment. The tunnelling works will be carried out along the Gombak-Bentong area where the single-longest twin hill-tunnel spanning 18 km will be built under the Titiwangsa Mountains. There will also be several underground lines, including in the heavily populated Gombak area near the Kuala Lumpur city centre.[23]

Phase 2 of ECRL will have an estimated length of 88 km. This phase will cover the stretch from Gombak North to Port Klang (Jalan Kastam) through Serendah and two more future station located at Puncak Alam and Kapar. As well, a further extension between Kota Bharu and Pengkalan Kubor will also be built. The cost of construction for this section of the ECRL is RM9 billion. With Phase 1 and Phase 2 combined, the total length of the entire line is about 688 km and the construction cost amounting to RM55 billion.[24][25]

Due to the change of government in 2018, the new Pakatan Harapan government initially planned to cancel the project but instead decided to realign the route especially on the Section C between Port Klang and Mentakab, Pahang.[19][20] This realignment would add extra two hours of travelling time between Kota Bharu to Port Klang from the original four hours to six hours.[7]

Below are the new changes made due to the realignment.[26]

• Double tracking from Port Klang to Kota Bharu bypass Gombak and Bentong.
• Standard gauges were used and the maximum speed for passenger is 160km/h and for freight is 80km/h.
• The number of stations reduced to 20 and these stations had been removed from list:
  • Pengkalan Kubor, Tumpat
  • Wakaf Bharu, Tumpat
  • Jelawat, Bachok
  • Telaga Papan, Setiu
  • Kerteh, Kemaman
  • Kuantan Sentral, Paya Besar
  • Bentong
  • Gombak North, Gombak
  • ITT Gombak, Kuala Lumpur
  • Serendah, Hulu Selangor
  • Puncak Alam, Kuala Selangor
  • Kapar, Klang

and the following stations were shifted to another place or new stations:

• • Kota Bharu station will be located near Kampung Tunjong, passed through Melor town and portion of Bachok District land, and then will reached Pasir Puteh station and go ahead to Jerteh station via tunnel.
  • Kuala Terengganu station, formerly situated at Kuala Nerus, was shifted to Marang District near Wakaf Tapai.
  • Pengkalan Berangan station which formerly situated at Marang south was shifted to Marang west, making it nearer Marang town, and become a proposed station.
  • Temerloh station will be integrated with current KTMB Mentakab via spur line.
  • Klawang station will be located at Kampung Seperi, Kuala Klawang, Negeri Sembilan
  • Nilai Sentral station will be integrated with new KTMB komuter station.
  • Putrajaya Sentral station will be integrated with the current station via spur line, the section at Putrajaya will be elevated and pass Presint 14, 1 and 9.
  • Jenjarom station which is located at oil palm area.
  • Westpost station, as a terminal freight station at Pulau Indah

Due to another change of government from Pakatan Harapan to Perikatan Nasional in 2020, the Perikatan Nasional government is planning to revert the ECRL route back to its original alignment.[7]

Passenger services will be operated by a fleet of six-car CJ6-type EMUs, each accommodating up to 450 passengers. The EMUs will be eco-friendly and produce less noise than other EMUs.[27]

One electric locomotive is capable of haulage up to 45 wagons with 3500 tonnes cargo.