KUANTAN: The year-end monsoon floods will not pose any threat to the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) services in Pahang which will be fully operational in January 2027.
Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) regional construction manager (Pahang) Khairi Khalid Abdul Rahman said the design for the mega-rail project took into account the 100-year ARI (Average Recurrence Interval) flood level.
"In case of floods in Pahang, the ECRL operations will remain unaffected. In terms of research and design, everything was executed by a team of competent consultants, so we do not expect any setbacks resulting from floods.
"Before works began, engineers conducted an in-depth study and took into account the ARI level of flood water for 100 years.....the rail works has taken into account all factors," he told reporters after attending the Aidilfitri open house hosted by ECRL at a hotel here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Khairi Khalid said the landscape and gradient (slope section) between highways and rail track construction were different.
"There were past incidents where the highway (East Coast Expressway) were cut off due to floods. For highways, there will be hilly sections. However, to lay rail tracks it is different. The ECRL's design is flat and the slope (gradient) is less than one percent.
"Unlike passenger trains, it is difficult for a cargo train to travel up a steep hill as there will be dozens of wagons and it will be too heavy if the route is hilly," he said when asked on the possibility of ECRL services being affected by floods.
The East Coast Expressway (ECE1) was cut off by floodwaters twice last year. The floods in January last year submerged several stretches of the dual-carriageway, while the inundation in December last year left the Km113 and Km115 stretch near Lanchang underwater for six days.
In 2015, a section of the expressway near Temerloh was severely flooded resulting in the stretch being closed for seven days.
During the Pahang state assembly sitting in March, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said the federal government has agreed to upgrade the dual-carriageway in July this year.