By Stephanie Jacob
The key to Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM)’s success going forward is to capitalise on the multi-billion ringgit double-tracking project alongside improving its cargo traffic, said KTM’s new chairman Nawawi Haji Ahmad.
Elias Kadir (left) with KTM chairman Nawawi Haji Ahmad
Having lost out to other modes of transportation such as road and air travel, the national rail operator has been in the red for some years now. Losses as at the end Dec 31, 2012 for the company stood at RM283 million, while total losses (combined with prior years) stood at RM1.2 billion.
Nawawi acknowledged that there was work to be done and said that he would be working with the management to come up with a new business model, saying “that my own motto for KTM is to tell people: road and plane today, rail tomorrow”.
In remarks following his first official tour of KTM’s corporate headquarters KL Sentral station and of the EMU Depot at Sentul today, Nawawi said that he was encouraged by what he had seen and believed that there were opportunities for KTM to improve its fortunes.
Confirming that the double-tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar will be completed by November and operational by early 2015 at the latest, Nawawi said that KTM believed the project will be key in helping them increase revenue from the commuter sector allowing faster travel at more frequent intervals.
That being said, the double-tracking project is both behind schedule and over budget. Furthermore, with a history if unreliable service it remains to be seen if KTM will be able to convince travellers to pick the rail option.
Nawawi agreed that reliability had been an issue in the past but said that KTM has been focusing on improving reliability and punctuality, and commended the staff for ensuring that 97% of its trains were now on time.
He emphasised that double-tracking is seen as a way for them to further improve on both reliability, as well as speed.
Cargo transportation was also highlighted as an area for growth, as Nawawi said that currently KTM only handles 3% of all rail transported cargo and that expanding this area of operations would help boost revenue and profits several fold.
The chairman who is also the member of parliament for Langkawi was confirmed by KTM’s board of directors on Feb 20, 2014 and officially appointed on Feb 24 via a letter from the Finance Ministry. KTM is majority owned by Ministry of Finance (Incorporated) save for one ordinary share which is owned by the Federal Land Commissioner.
Recently talk was rife that it would be privatised with a MMC-Gamuda reportedly submitting a joint-venture bid for the rail operators, however the deal was purportedly rejected by the government.
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