TRAM for Malacca in 2011? Not likely says TRANSIT (Update #3)

Updated with articles & images of the supposed tram!
Updated with reports on the signing of ‘MoU’ on 3 March 2010!

TRANSIT has taken note of a number of articles commenting on a proposed tram service linking Ayer Keroh to Malacca.

• RM272m tram project for historical state (Star Metro South & East)
• Melaka bina sistem pengangkutan trem (Berita Harian);
• Percuma Untuk Warga Emas, Murid Sekolah (Melaka Hari Ini)
• Pembinaan trem bermula Mei (Utusan);
• Melaka to introduce RM272m tram transportation service (NST);
• Melaka Gearing For A RM272 Million Tram Transportation Service (Bernama)

Here are some details from the articles above:

Work on the project, which is still awaiting approval from the Transportation Ministry, is expected to take off in May this year with completion and operations expected in May or June next year.

[TRANSIT: First, the Ministry of Transport has not received a submission of the railways scheme and there has been no 3-month public display period as mandated by the Railways Act 1991. Second, it takes more than 1 year to plan, design, engineer and build a tram system.]

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the tram system will be powered by natural gas, the first such tram to be introduced in the world with a speed of 60 to 80 km per hour.

The project will be a joint venture between the Melaka State Government, through its Chief Minister Incorporated (CMI), and MRails International Sdn Bhd (MRails).

[TRANSIT: MRails again – a company with no technological expertise and no experience building public transport, is going to introduce a completely new technology that the world has never heard of?]

Also present at today’s event was the Patron of MRails, Tengku Muda Pahang Tengku Abd Rahman ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah, Melaka State Secretary Datuk Wira Omar Kaseh, President of MRails Datuk Jeya Kumar and Chief Executive Officer of MRails Datuk Mohamed Shamsherudin Mohd Shariff.

[TRANSIT: Are the names above the reason why MRails is getting away with this scam?]

CMI will have a 20 per cent interest in the project while MRails which has a paid-up capital of RM1 million will hold the rest. The funding of the project will be via private funding initiative.

The tram has a maximum capacity for 40 coaches and 6,000 passengers.

[TRANSIT: WHAT? This does not even make sense from a transport point of view. There are no trams in the world that have a capacity of 40 coaches – it seems that the numbers are remarkably skewed or just made up.]

The number of passengers expected to use the tram services has been projected at 250,000 passengers a month.

Mohd Ali said fares will be at RM2 one way while for senior citizens and school children, it will be free.3

Among the popular spots the tram will pass on its route are Hotel Seri Malaysia, Botanical Gardens, Melaka Zoo, Melaka International Trade Centre, Taman Muzaffar Shah, Pantai Hospital, Masjid Al-Azim, Hospital Melaka, Renaissance Hotel, Dataran Pahlawan, Hotel Mahkota, Harbour Club, Equatorial Hotel and Bukit Baru.

TRANSIT members were very curious about the sudden emergence of these articles, especially when Malacca’s government was known to be looking at the “Aerorail” system and had gone to the extent of initiating a railways scheme & conducting a public display on Aerorail.

But trams? On a route following the Aerorail route? In Malacca which supposedly has very narrow roads (which is why the Aerorail was proposed in the first place)?

As you can imagine it was all very confusing to us. But we investigated…and suddenly the answer became very clear.

Perkhidmatan tram alternatif atasi kesesakan trafik (Sinar Harian)

AYER KEROH – Melaka terus komited dalam usaha mengatasi kesesakan lalu lintas apabila bakal menyediakan kemudahan tram sebagai alternatif mengatasi masalah tersebut.

Ketua Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam berkata, menyedari ‘kebanjiran’ kenderaan yang keluar masuk ke negeri ini terutama waktu puncak, hujung minggu dam cuti persekolahan atau perayaan, tram dilihat menjadi pilihan selain menggunakan kenderaan sendiri.

“Kesesakan jalan raya akan bermula apabila jumlah kenderaan yang masuk untuk ke pusat bandar raya bertambah dari masa ke masa.

“Justeru pembinaan kemudahan tram sejauh 40 kilometer yang bermula dari Tol Ayer Keroh ini menuju ke pusat bandar bakal dimulakan Mac ini,” katanya.

[TRANSIT: This March is impossible because a TRAM is a railway and would have to follow the regulations of the Railways Act. Also a TRAM can operate on the roadways so it also has to follow the regulations of the Road Transport Act!]

Menurutnya, pembinaan pengangkutan berkenaan bakal menelan kos kira-kira RM270 juta dan Kerajaan Negeri menerusi Perbadanan Ketua Menteri (CMI) dan beberapa agensi lain akan menandatangani perjanjian projek berkenaan dengan Mrail International pada 3 Mac ini.

[TRANSIT: MRail International. Hmm, that name sounds familiar!]

Projek berkenaan dijangka siap dalam masa setahun.

[TRANSIT: Not going to happen.]

Mohd Ali berkata, setiap tram boleh membawa 150 penumpang dan dalam tempoh sehari dijangka boleh mengangkut seramai 2,500 penumpang masuk ke pusat bandar raya dari stesen utama di Ayer Keroh.

“Projek ini akan dibiayai sepenuhnya oleh syarikat pemaju dan bayaran balik kepada bank boleh dibuat dalam tempoh 20 tahun,” katanya.

[TRANSIT: Yeah…sure it will.]

Sistem perkhidmatan tram ini dijangka bermula di stesen utama di tapak seluas 20 hektar berhampiran Tol Ayer Keroh dan bakal menghubungkan beberapa laluan seperti Bukit Sebukor; Bukit Baru; Pejabat Pos Besar; Jalan Taming Sari; Jalan Bendahara menuju ke Tapak Warisan Dunia; Plaza Mahkota; Jalan Abd Aziz; Melaka Raya dan Bukit Cina.

Menurutnya, sistem per-khidmatan tram ini merupakan laluan alternatif kedua ke pusat bandar raya, selain perkhidmatan aerorail.:

Another article about the TRAM proposal appeared in this community newspaper.

40 Kilometer Dari Ayer Keroh Ke Bandaraya
MELAKA PERTAMA MILIKI TRAM

AYER KEROH, 25 Feb – Melaka muncul negeri pertama di Malaysia yang akan menyediakan sistem kemudahan tram sebagai alternatif mengatasi masalah kesesakan jalan raya menuju ke pusat bandaraya, terutama pada waktu puncak hujung minggu dan musim cuti.

Ketua Menteri, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam berkata, kemudahan perkhidmatan tram sejauh 40 kilometer itu akan bermula di stesen utama berhampiran Tol Ayer Keroh menuju ke Pusat Bandar dan dijangka menelan kos kira-kira RM270 juta.

[TRANSIT: Well they have done their homework. The cost is approximately RM7million which is far far lower than the cost of LRT at RM250million per km. But frankly, RM7million per km is unrealistic and too low.]

Beliau memberitahu, Kerajaan negeri menerusi Perbadanan Ketua Menteri (CMI) dan beberapa agensi lain akan menandatangani perjanjian projek berkenaan dengan MRail International pada 3 Mac ini.

[TRANSIT: See comments in previous article]

“Mengikut perancangan seperti taklimat yang diberikan kepada Exco semalam, projek tersebut dijangka siap dalam tempoh setahun,” ujarnya kepada para pemberita selepas Majlis Penyerahan Baton Sukan Malaysia XIII Melaka 2010 kepada Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kecil Larian Baton, Amiruddin Yusof di Seri Bendahara, pagi tadi.

Turut hadir, Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif, Sukan Malaysia XIII Melaka 2010, Radzi Shaari dan Pegawai Daerah Melaka Tengah, Roslan Ibrahim.

Ketua Menteri memberitahu, setiap tram boleh membawa 150 penumpang dan dalam tempoh sehari dijangka boleh mengangkut seramai 2,500 penumpang masuk ke pusat bandaraya dari stesen utama di Ayer Keroh.

“Projek ini akan dibiayai sepenuhnya oleh syarikat pemaju dan bayaran balik kepada bank boleh dibuat dalam tempoh 20 tahun,” ujar Mohd Ali.

Sistem perkhidmatan tram ini dijangka bermula di stesen utama di tapak seluas 50 ekar berhampiran Tol Ayer Keroh.

Perkhidmatan ini bakal menghubungan beberapa laluan seperti Bukit Sebukor; Bukit Baru; Pejabat Pos Besar; Jalan Taming Sari; Jalan Bendahara menuju ke Tapak Warisan Dunia; Plaza Mahkota; Jalan Abd Aziz; Melaka Raya dan Bukit Cina.

Katanya lagi, sistem perkhidmatan tram ini merupakan laluan alternatif kedua ke pusat bandaraya, selain perkhidmatan Aerorail.

“Aerorail juga sudah mendapat persetujuan daripada Kementerian Pengangkutan dan lesen telahpun diberi,” tambah Ketua Menteri.

[TRANSIT: Not from what we have heard!]

Beliau menjelaskan, Kerajaan Negeri sentiasa berusaha meningkatkan sistem pengangkutan awam ke arah yang lebih efisien, selesa dan cepat sejajar dengan kemajuan yang dicapai oleh Melaka.

“Saya yakin, tahun 2010 adalah tahun terbaik buat Melaka untuk terus menjadi destinasi tumpuan dan sentiasa segar dengan pelbagai aktiviti. Sebab itu juga kita berharap lebih banyak peruntukkan disalurkan kepada Melaka dalam RMK-10 selaras dengan kepesatan pembangunan yang sedang dilaksanakan supaya ekonomi kita terus berkembang maju,” jelasnya.

TRANSIT Says:

It wasn’t long ago that we were commenting on the state of public transport in this country and lamenting about how bad things were getting.

We commented on how the poor regulation & lack of awareness about public transport was allowing the public to fall for impossible public transport schemes that are heavy on the use of alternative technology.

We commented on how shadowy companies with no significant record of constructing and managing projects were announcing themselves as representatives of international companies.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is all a scam.

We recognized the name MRails International as we have looked at them in the past. The tram proposal, like the Aerorail proposal and the High-Speed Rail from KL to Kuantan and the Hydrogen High-Speed Rail Superhighway are all scams.

And the Chief Minister of Malacca and the Menteri Besar of Pahang have either been fooled by the scammers … or they are part of the scam themselves.

TRANSIT wonders when the Rakyat will wake up to the fact that they are being fooled when it comes to public transport.