RAILWAYS - Sabah Railway Services

Thursday November 3, 2011

Rail Dept hopes to resume service by Sunday

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Rail­ways Department hopes to resume the train service, which was disrupted due to Monday’s mishap, by Hari Raya Haji this Sunday.

Its general manager Mohd Zain Mohd Said said the track along Jalan Kepayan here where the crash between the train and lorry tanker occurred was severely damaged.

Railway engineers have inspected the track and deemed it unsafe for use.

Mohd Zain said: “The steel track is bent due to the crash and we are trying hard to repair it by Saturday. Many people depend on our service to return to their hometowns during the festivities and Hari Raya Haji is no different.”

However, he noted that even if the service were to resume, the frequency of travel would be reduced as the department had only one new diesel train at its disposal now.

“We can use our older diesel trains if the need arises but they are uncomfortable and slow,” he said here yesterday.

The RM334mil upgrading work on the 134km Kota Kinabalu-Tenom railway line started in November 2005.

The department bought two new diesel trains – including the one which collided with the lorry tanker laden with 27,000 litres of petrol – for RM32mil after the project was completed on Feb 21.

Before the accident, the train service had two return trips from the state capital to Beaufort, about 90km from here, and one return trip from here to Papar.

Mohd Zain said commuters who wished to travel further to Tenom had to take smaller coaches as the upgrade work on that part of the railway had yet to be completed.

Meanwhile, work to transport the two badly-burnt carriages to the Tanjung Aru train station yard was completed at 10.25pm on Tuesday, ending a 12-hour operation by state railway workers.

The carriages will remain in the yard while forensic investigations are carried out.

A private company was also brought in to clean the oil spillage. The Fire and Rescue Department had previously helped to contain it at the scene.

The Department of Environment and the Public Works Department were also involved.