KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): The Railwaymen's Union of Malaya (RUM) has urged the government to pay more serious attention to improving assets owned and operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB), and to scrap plans to build the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).

The government should allocate more financial resources to upgrade the country's railway infrastructure that is under the purview of KTMB, which has been sidelined and treated like a "stepchild" in the past, the union said in a statement today.

"RUM welcomes and fully support the previous announcement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to scrap the ECRL and HSR as it will give a new shine to the 130-year-old KTMB, which has always been treated like a step child," RUM president Abdul Razak Md Hassan said.

KTMB currently operates 1,677 km of railway tracks that run from Perlis to Johor.

Building both the ECRL and HSR would cost "a very large sum", or to the tune of more than RM70 billion, RUM said.

"If the government borrows money from any parties [for this project], it will result in very big implications for the country. It is only fair that the government pays serious attention to KTMB, which can take on projects at lower cost and not burden the rakyat," it said.

Instead of building the 600km-long ECRL, which cuts across Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, RUM suggested the government expand the existing KTMB single track from Gemas in Johor to Tumpat in Kelantan to a double track.

"RUM is confident that the expansion can result in savings of around RM40 billion," it added.

Currently, the ECRL project comes under the purview of Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, a company owned by the Finance Ministry, which has secured financing arrangements from The Export-Import Bank of China Ltd. The contract to build the ECRL has been awarded to China Communications Construction Company Ltd.

As for the 350km HSR connecting Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, RUM said the government can build a new railway track cutting through the southern region, which will be based on meter gauge technology that will allow the train to travel at a speed of up to 165km per hour.

"This can incur savings of around RM10 billion," it added.

It argued the initiatives would result in more job opportunities created and an improvement in economic conditions, adding the savings incurred from terminating the ECRL and HSR projects could also be channelled to increasing the number of KTMB locomotives and train sets.