to operate on dedicated road-level, elevated lanes (Video)
By Samuel Aubrey on October 3, 2023, Tuesday at 12:45 PM


Mazli (third right) and Chan exchange documents after the signing witnessed by senior management of Sarawak Metro and EMG JV.

KUCHING (Oct 3): Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) vehicles will be operated on dedicated lanes and will not share the road with other road users, Sarawak Metro Sdn Bhd said today.

In a press release, it explained the lanes will either be at-grade (road level) or elevated.

“The ART vehicles run on rubber tyres and hence the dedicated lanes will be trackless.

“The ART operation will be supported by a feeder bus network, which will also use hydrogen-powered vehicles to offer the ‘first mile and last mile’ connectivity for commuters,” said Sarawak Metro.

It added the move to use hydrogen is in support of the Sarawak government’s aspirations to advance the hydrogen economy and to decarbonise public transport in the state.

Apart from managing climate change, the move is also as a catalyst in advancing Sarawak’s initiatives to become an advanced state by 2030.

Meanwhile, the press release said the partnership to develop the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) project has been further strengthened by the recent signing of a Certificate of Conformance (COC) between Sarawak Metro and EMG JV Sdn Bhd.

It said the COC signing signified the commitment of both parties in their drive to realise Sarawak’s aspiration to modernise public transportation in the city.

Sarawak Metro chief executive officer Mazli Mustaffa signed for the company while EMG JV was represented by director Chan Chee Kian.

The signing of the COC is a follow up from the awarding of the contract in July last year and the signing of the Performance Bond on July 20, 2023.

EMG JV – a joint venture between EPR (Kuching) Sdn Bhd, Mobilus Sdn Bhd and Global Rail Sdn Bhd – is the main contractor for the System Package 1 of the KUTS project.

The contract involved the supply of the rolling stock, which is the hydrogen-powered ART vehicles, depot equipment and maintenance vehicles (DEMV), signalling and control system (S&CS), and the automatic platform gate (APG) was awarded in July last year.

“Currently, EMG JV is coordinating the engineering run and the Stage 2 of the Proof-of-Concept (POC) exercise for the prototype unit of ART which has begun on September 4.

“The engineering run will be held for two months and will ends in October, and the route is a loop along Jalan Keruing passing Menara LCDA, Menara SEDC, Menara Sarawak Energy and Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK),” said Sarawak Metro.

It explained the engineering run is to refine the specification of the ART unit and to identify any potential issues before proceeding with the POC exercise.

“It is also to assess and appraise the performance and functionality of the ART vehicle, through the prototype unit,” said Sarawak Metro.

It also said Stage 2 of the POC exercise will be carried out in November, to gather data to evaluate the feasibility of the prototype for the final design of the ART vehicle.

The POC exercise will be conducted on a 3km lane built between two roundabouts in Kota Samarahan, along the Kuching-Samarahan Expressway.

This stretch will form a section of the permanent dedicated lane built for the KUTS project’s Blue Line network.

Stage 1 of the POC exercise was conducted in March this year at the CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co Ltd facility in Hunan province, China.

CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co Ltd is the developer of the prototype ART hydrogen vehicle.

Sarawak Metro, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), has been entrusted to implement, operate, and maintain the KUTS project.

The zero-emission ART vehicle is the backbone of the KUTS Project, a Sarawak government funded project aimed to modernise the public transport system in the state.

The KUTS Project will be developed in phases and Phase 1 is for the development of three lines – the Blue Line, the Red Line, and the Green Line.