ECRL progress now at 62.4% – Kota Bharu-Gombak alignment to be completed by Dec 2026 as scheduled

Construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) has now progressed to the 62.4% completion mark, according to Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) CEO Darwis Abdul Razak. He said that construction is proceeding smoothly, with the Kelantan phase of the project presently at 75.8%, as Bernama reports.

“The 43 km ECRL alignment in Kelantan involves the construction of two stations, Kota Bharu for passengers only, and Pasir Puteh Station for passengers and cargo,” he said. As for Terengganu, progress of the project has gone past 80%, with most of the infrastructure work completed.

He added that the construction of bridges for elevated sections was also progressing well. “Recently, we successfully dug through three tunnels, bringing the total to 30 (tunnels) out of 41,” he said.

Darwis said that the alignment from Kota Bharu to the integrated transport terminal in Gombak, Selangor, is expected to be completed on schedule in December 2026, with services slated to commence from January 2027. “Meanwhile, the ECRL alignment from Gombak to Port Klang is scheduled to be completed by December 2027,” he said.

The ECRL, which is a 50:50 joint venture project between Malaysia Rail Link and China Communications Construction (CCCC), was announced in 2016. It was then cancelled in 2018, but revived the following year with changes to its alignment.

The 665 km route connecting Kota Bharu to Port Klang, which will have 59 tunnels, is expected to reduce travel time between these points to four hours from the current seven hours needed for an equivalent road journey, or more than 12 hours during festive seasons.

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