National railway network KTM Bhd lost between RM87 million and RM188 million a year over the last seven years, the Transport Ministry informed the Parliament today.

According to the ministry's deputy minister Lajim Ukin, the railway company suffered losses amounting to RM188 million in 2001, RM140 million (2002), RM131 million (2003), RM87 million (2004), RM131 million (2005), RM104 million (2006) and RM116 million (2007).

keretapi tanah melayu ktm malaysia "The main reason (for these losses) is the presence of good highways, which is among the reasons that commuters are no longer using the services of the trains," said Lajim in answer to a question from Kamaruddin Jaffar (PAS-Tumpat) this morning.

Kamaruddin pointed out that in comparison to the year 1990 when 833,000 people used the services of KTM Bhd, only 270,000 people did so in 2004.

Among the causes of this, said Kamaruddin, was the fact that it took as much as 13-14 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur from Tumpat while it should only take five to six hours.

He also pointed out that despite enjoying RM7 billion from oil royalties, Terengganu still did not have a train station.

New stations

Concurring with Kamaruddin on the decline in passengers on KTM trains, Lajim said the ministry was in the process of seeking to acquire new coaches and trains to replace the old ones in order to improve its services.

"For this purpose, the ministry has submitted an application (to the Finance Ministry) to obtain the funds to buy the new coaches, but up to now, the ministry has not received any response, written or otherwise," he said.

ktm kepong sentral canopy Lajim also said he will look into the conditions of the train network from Penang to Singapore to determine the problems faced by commuters.

For the east coast, Lajim said improvements were being made to two stations at Tanah Merah and Kuala Krai while three new stations were being built at Wakaf Bharu, Pasir Mas and Gua Musang.

Lajim also noted that the strengthening of railway tracks and bridges on the east coast were being carried out between Gemas and Kerdau (costing RM30 million), Mengkarak and Mentakab (RM4 million), Gemas and Bahau (RM15 million) and between Bahau and Triang (RM17 million).