The Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line is a proposed 51km long rail line that will connect Sungai Buloh, north west of Kuala Lumpur, with Kanjang in the south east, while passing through the densely populated centre of the federal capital.
SBK Line is part of the Klang Valley mass rapid transit project announced by the Government of Malaysia in December 2010.
It will be owned by the Government of Malaysia through Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana) and operated by RapidKL, a subsidiary of Prasarana.
Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) / Land Public Transport Commission is the supervisory agency for the project.
The line will serve 1.2 million people in the Klang Valley who currently do not have an adequate rail network. There is less than 20km of rail per million people, as opposed to 40km of rail per million people in public transport oriented countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and London.
Along with integrated bus services, the new line is expected to increase the use of public transport from 17% in 2011 to 50% in 2020. The expected ridership of the line is 442,000 passengers a day.
Funded by the Government, the project is expected to commence construction in November 2011 after the announcement of tenders. It is scheduled to be completed in 2016 and commence operations in January 2017.
Project details for the Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line
The SBK alignment was proposed many times with different transport options. It was first proposed in 2006 by Prasarana, and again in 2008 as a part of the Kuala Lumpur draft city plan to create rapid bus transport.
Feasibility studies carried out since first proposals revealed the bus transport could not address the growing traffic congestions, and proved to be costly with rising petrol prices.
The alignment was subsequently proposed in July 2010 as an MRT system under the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley national key economic area (NKEA). It was approved as the commuter train was economically feasible and could effectively tackle the traffic issues.
The final alignment was revealed by the Government in July 2011, three months after the public consultation. It was drawn with an objective to minimise social and environmental impacts of the project.
The new alignment resulted in removal of four stations from the original plan of 35 stations and reduced the land acquisitions from 100 to 40 buildings in the southern region. The four stations will be considered in future, depending on the passenger demands.
The SBK line will be constructed on a project delivery partner (PDP) model to eliminate the risk of cost and time overrun and also to have a single point of accountability.
A 50/50 joint venture of Malaysia based investment holding company MMC and infrastructure group Gamuda was appointed as the PDP in early 2011.
The project's cost-benefit analysis was done by McKinsey. It is expected to generate around RM3 to 4bn ($1.34bn to $1.68bn) revenue a year in the first five years of operation.
Infrastructure for Malaysia's SBK Line
The route will contain 9.5km of underground railway in the city centre and the remaining on the surface.
There will be eight underground stations, of which four will serve as interchanges connecting the KTM Komuter Line, Ampang LRT Line and the Kelana Jaya LRT Line. The Sungai Buloh railway station will be designed based on the Bandar Tasik Selatan interchange station of the KTM Komuter and Ampang Line.
The SBK MRT line will allow passengers to shift from MRT system to monorail at Bukit Bintang central station, located at the centre of Kuala Lumpur. The central station was formed by consolidating Bukit Bintang east and west stations.
Trains will travel at head way of 3.5 minutes during peak hours.
They will operate at a speed of 35km/h and cover the distance between Sungai Buloh and Kajang in 88 minutes.
Rolling stock
A fleet of 58 trains will run on the SBK line. Each train will have four carriages carrying a maximum of 300 passengers in each carriage.