PortDicksonLine:TouristTrainsDeferred

[GWR]

Negri readying train service for tourists to Port Dickson

By SARBAN SINGH

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

SEREMBAN: Tourists who wish to travel by train to Port Dickson will have the opportunity to do so when several Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) coaches are refurbished.

Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the move was to promote tourism in the state.

“We will have a diesel-powered locomotive with three to four wagons ferrying tourists to the resort town.

“I am sure that this mode of transport, which will be launched soon, will be well received by domestic and foreign tourists alike,” he told reporters after the weekly exco meeting at his office yesterday.

Mohamad said the existing railway tracks had already been inspected to ensure the safety of passengers.

“Although the line is still used by KTMB for its freight services, its officials checked the tracks and found them to be in good condition,” he said.

The mentri besar was asked to comment on a statement by KTMB managing director Datuk Mohd Salleh Abdullah that the Komuter train service would not be extended to Port Dicskon as it was not viable.

“We do not expect KTMB to provide us with Komuter trains. All we want is to use normal trains and work to refurbish them is already underway,” he said, adding that he was scheduled to go for a trip on board the train next month.


For updates:
http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2248&highlight=

[GWR]

2008/07/12
'Free' diesel after train jumps tracks
By : Dharshini Balan

http://www.nst.com.my/Saturday/National/2291842/insidepix1
[Photo: NST - Hazmat personnel sealed the leaking diesel wagons and checked for leaking gas. — NST picture by Owee Ah Chun.]

SEREMBAN: A goods train transporting diesel from a refinery in Port Dickson to Ipoh derailed at Km13.6 of the Seremban-Siliau railway line yesterday.

In the 5.15pm incident, which occurred at Kampung Pulai in Rantau, the train's 14 wagons and its locomotive went off the tracks.

Eleven of the wagons were carrying liquefied petroleum gas and three were carrying diesel.

The driver, only known as Thikumar and his assistant, Hasmadi Yunus, both in their 30s, suffered light injuries and were sent to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital here.

Some of the wagons fell three metres from the tracks into an oil palm plantation. The impact caused three diesel wagons to start leaking.

Police had to cordon off the site after villagers nearby took the opportunity to fill containers with the precious fuel.

Seremban 2 Fire and Rescue Department operations chief Jaafar Yusof said only the driver and his assistant were on the train.

"A total of 12 personnel from the Hazardous Materials Unit (Hazmat) was despatched to the scene, where they plugged the leakages to prevent the diesel from flowing into a nearby river," he said.

"As a precautionary measure, we also ascertained that there were no gas leaks from the other wagons," he said.

A few officers from the Department of Environment and employees from the oil companies were also at the scene of the incident.

According to a Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad spokesperson, the derailment did not disrupt in the Padang Besar-Singapore passenger route and other commuter routes. Total losses have yet to be ascertained.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2291842/Article/index_html

It is perhaps also worth visting this forum to see some KTM Railfan speculation over this derailment. Note the warnings that some things are better NOT discussed to avoid falling out with KTM execs:
http://www.ktmrailwayfan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3071&highlight=

[GWR]

Friday August 15, 2008
Tourist train service deferred indefinitely
By SARBAN SINGH and C.S. NATHAN

SEREMBAN: The Seremban-Port Dickson tourist train service, which was supposed to be launched tomorrow, has been deferred indefinitely as certain stretches of the track have been found to be unsafe.

Sources said the decision was made after recent checks by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) revealed that several stretches of the track laid decades ago needed to be upgraded.

A source said that although KTMB and the state government were ready to roll out the service, both had agreed to postpone it in the interest of safety.

“It is pointless for us to introduce the service and then have the train run empty,” he said.

A state economic planning unit official confirmed receiving a letter from the Transport Ministry asking that the service be deferred “until we are certain that the entire railway line from here to the resort town is safe”.

The train service, which was to run twice daily, was supposed to end at the Port Dickson jetty.

At present, only the goods train uses the stretch to transport petroleum and other products from the two oil refineries in Port Dickson.

On July 11, a goods train carrying liquefied petroleum gas and diesel from a refinery in Port Dickson to Ipoh derailed at the 13th kilometre at Kampung Pulai, near Rantau.

When contacted, State Tourism, Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage and Malay Customs Committee chairman Datuk Muhammad Razi Kail said the state government would respect the ministry’s decision “although we want to introduce the train service to promote tourism in PD”.

He said the state government had been planning to re-introduce the passenger train service for more than a year.

“We had picked Aug 16 as it coincides with the beginning of the month-long Merdeka celebrations. We hope that whatever problems that were detected with the track can be resolved quickly,” he said.

A KTMB official estimated that it would take at least three months for it to rectify problems with the track.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/15/nation/22021483&sec=nation