KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — The government is finalising amendments to the rail transport law to impose heavier penalties with fines of up to RM100,000 on criminals who trespass and steal cables from national rail facilities.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah said the proposal to increase the fine from the current RM1,000 is expected to be tabled in the next Parliament session.

“We will amend this law to reach RM100,000 for each offence... currently in the process and God willing, perhaps by the end of this year in the next session, a stricter amendment to the law will be brought to this House,” he said during a question-and-answer session at Dewan Negara today.

He was responding to a question by Senator Datuk Mohd Hatta Md Ramli regarding the government’s mitigation measures to address travel disruptions due to cable theft and ensure public transport is guaranteed.

Hasbi said the amendment to the law was urgent as the existing penalties were deemed too lenient compared to the impact of damage and delays to train operations that the operators had to bear.

Additionally, the move was also driven by a surge in cable theft cases which recorded a total loss of RM50 million across the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) network, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.

According to Hasbi, a total of 71 cable theft cases were recorded along the ECRL project with an estimated loss of RM4.06 million, while 13 cases of theft and damage to equipment and other materials related to the system resulted in a loss of RM0.69 million.

“This brings the total loss to RM4.75 million. Although the ECRL is still in the construction phase and has not yet involved travel disruptions for users, the incident has the potential to affect the project implementation schedule, including installation, testing, commissioning and operational preparations,” he said.

To strengthen security control on the ground, Hasbi said the government is currently in the process of installing 1,146 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras along the railway line from Johor to the north of the country.

In addition, he said KTMB has also acquired 20 units of scrambler motorcycles for use by the Auxiliary Police to tighten 24-hour patrols, in addition to implementing physical controls such as closing high-security manholes and using sniffer dogs (K9). — Bernama