KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Come Friday, the first phase of the 51km Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Line One project is set to change the routine of commuters along the Sungai Buloh-Semantan route.

The 12 stations along the 23km line are Sungai Buloh, Kampung Selamat, Kwasa Damansara, Kwasa Sentral, Kota Damansara, Surian, Mutiara Damansara, Bandar Utama, Taman Tun Datuk Ismail, Phileo, Pusat Bandar Damansara and Semantan. 

The second phase of the project from Semantan to Kajang will be operational in July. 

The construction of the 51km Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line, including a 9.5km underground stretch, was launched on July 8, 2011.

It will have 31 stations, including seven underground stations.

The trains are engineered by Siemens A, designed by BMW Group Designworks (United States), and assembled in Rasa, Hulu Selangor.

Owner and developer of the project, MRT Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp), projected that the whole line would carry 400,000 commuters daily.

Its Strategic Communications and Public Relations director Datuk Najmuddin Abdullah said one train could carry up to 1,200 passengers and they were carrying out tests to operate more frequently with intervals of between two and three minutes.

The train is scheduled to operate at 3.5-minute intervals during peak hours.

"We can only forecast our ridership. We do not know the response until we launch our service,” he said.

"Even when we open to the public, we may not know the real deal yet since it is the school holidays and many people are on leave. Next month, we will have the real stress test for our assets.” Najmuddin said the biggest challenge was to change the mindset of Malaysians on the convenience that comes with using public transportation.

"Malaysia is still young in terms of rail public transportation compared with Hong Kong or London. We have many existing lines but we are not quite there yet because of the connectivity once you reach a station,” he said.  

The MRT Semantan station will be operation on Friday. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

"That is where MRT comes in. We aim for it to be one of the solutions to connect with all existing rail services.”

Najmuddin said MRT was also building Line Two from Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP), as well as Line Three that is undergoing a feasibility study which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

The SSP Line, which began construction in August this year, will stretch from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya and is expected to be operational by July 2021.

"Having these three MRT lines will complete the puzzle and we can be like other well-connected cities five to six years from now,” said Najmuddin.

"We can then boost the number of passengers, which currently stands at about 20 per cent of the population.”

He said 120 feeder buses would operate within a five-km radius of the 12 stations, covering 26 routes.

He said parking bays at major stations, mostly out of the city centre, would also be provided for the convenience to travel without the hassle of going through traffic jams and tolls.

The parking area at Sungai Buloh station is operational, providing over 1,000 parking lots for Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad commuters. 

Some 500 parking lots at the Phileo Damansara station is expected to be opened soon.

"Making a big difference has been a challenge for us but it will also be a challenge for the operators to ensure their service is good and that any hiccups are minimised,” said Najmuddin, referring to Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd, the appointed operators of MRT’s rail and feeder buses. 

The launch of the services will be on Thursday and operations will commence the next day.