Monorail gets green light

Wednesday, 11 January 2012 10:23

MALACCA: The Land Public Transport Com­mission (SPAD) has lifted its suspension of Malacca’s tourist monorail service connecting Taman Rempah to the Hang Tuah Station.

SPAD chief operating officer Azhar Ahmad said engineers from KL Monorail and the commission conducted an in-depth inspection on the service and gave clearance to Menara Taming Sari Sdn Bhd to resume operations.

“We sent a letter last week informing the operator of the go-ahead to resume operations. However, we are sticking to one of our conditions spelled out in the notice that the service must be discontinued during the rainy season,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The monorail service suffered a second round of suspension on Nov 29 when SPAD ordered the operator to discontinue service after it found a defect on the auto-mode function of the rail and summoned the original monorail maker from China to rectify the matter.

The state government acted promptly to ensure that the problem-plagued Malacca Tourist Monorail functioned smoothly.

It appointed an engineer from the monorail maker, China’s Unis Technology Co Ltd, to be stationed here to oversee operations.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the firm’s engineers would be commissioned on a long-term basis as the state planned to extend the current 1.6km rail line to another 3km.

The monorail service has experienced 21 service disruptions since starting operations in October 2010.

The RM15.9mil monorail line runs 1.6km from Taman Rempah in Pengkalan Rama to Kampung Bunga Raya Pantai along the scenic Malacca river.

SPAD slapped its first 48-hour suspension on the monorail operator on Nov 2 when a British couple was rescued after the service came to an abrupt stop. They were trapped for almost 20 minutes after service stalled due to a technical glitch.

Less than a month later, a group of 18 Hong Kong tourists was stranded after the service suffered another malfunction, forcing SPAD to issue the second round of suspension.

SPAD has also ordered the monorail operator to equip the service with a cherry picker – a hydraulic crane to rescue stranded passengers should the coach stall. The operator has complied.

From The Star