PETALING JAYA: The United Kingdom Transport Ministry held a webinar to share its experience and expertise in constructing the HS2 high-speed rail service there.
The HS2 is a new high-speed railway linking up London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland serving over 25 stations, including eight of Britain’s 10 largest cities and connecting around 30 million people.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong thanked his counterpart, UK's Minister of State for Transport Chris Heaton Harris for joining him in launching the webinar on Monday (May 24).
In a Facebook post, Dr Wee said he was grateful to the UK Transport Ministry for hosting this session to share their experience and expertise in constructing the HS2 project.
"I am certain the arrival of HS2 will greatly benefit the UK, in terms of connectivity and economic growth.
"There is something for all participants to gain from the UK's successful experience in planning, financing, commissioning and operating the HS2 project in preparing ourselves for future rail projects in Malaysia," he said.
He added in Malaysia, since the first railway line connecting Kuala Sepetang (formerly Port Weld) to Taiping for tin transportation was opened in 1885 in Perak, Malaysia now has over 2,200km of rail tracks.
"Alongside this growth, there have been significant high-tech investments over the past decade in our railway industry.
"Notably, the Gemas-Johor Baru electrified double-track project, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and MRT3 are among mega projects that will have a huge impact on the local economy," he said.
He added that a growing economy also brings more cargo traffic to the roads so Malaysia was making all efforts to facilitate a cargo transportation mode shift from road to rail.
"We aim to mitigate the high usage of roads at 98.4%, to transport goods, which has led to traffic congestion and contributes to traffic accidents.
"At the same time, we also need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transport sector," he said.
Sumber: The Star
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