KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — The first of the 12-car train on the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Makkah Metro Southern Line (MMMSL) operated by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (Prasarana) started operations as early as 2.30 am  (Mecca time) today.

Prasarana in a statement issued here said the train would be operating between the Arafat 1 station and Jamarat in north of Mecca, stopping at the nine stations along the way.

"For the first day, we will be using six trains under Movement A. Six will be sufficient as based on experience, the crowd heading for Arafah for Wukuf grows gradually," MMMSL Director of Operation, Muhammad Burhanordin Ismail was quoted saying in the statement. 

Prasarana was awarded the contract to operate and maintain the MMMSL in May this year after taking over from the China Railway Construction Consortium (CRCC) that operated the line since the inauguration of the service in 2010.  

The service which starts at 4 am, provides connectivity between Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina and about 370,000 pilgrims are expected to travel daily on the 18.1 km alignment during the 2015 haj season.

According to Muhammad Burhanordin, Movement A would run continuously for 34 hours until 7 pm on Sept 22 (8 Zulhijjah) before Movement B commences from 8 pm to 10 am, Sept 23 (9 Zulhijjah) for the critical movement of pilgrims to Arafah.

"Movement B will be a direct shuttle service with trains taking pilgrims from the three stations in Mina to the three stations in Arafah," he said adding that the service will stop for just over eight hours before commencing into operation at 6.18 pm on the same day for Movement C.

According to Muhammad Burhanordin, Movement C, which would observe another round of shuttle service format from the three Arafah stations to the three Muzdalifah stations, would be the greatest challenge.  

"After wukuf, everybody will be leaving Arafah to 'mabit' in Muzdalifah. We will be putting 12 trains to cover Movement C, which will run for just over three hours and 42 minutes until 10pm.

"This is before we start Movement D from 11.30 pm until 8.30 am on the following day to ferry pilgrims to Mina for their stoning act at Jamarat," Muhammad Burhanordin said.

Train services from Sept 24 to 27 (10 to 13 Zulhijjah) would follow Movement E, which stops at selected stations at Mina 1 and 2; Muzdalifah 3, Arafat 3 and Mina 3.

"We will officially close operation for this year at 6 pm, Sept 27 (13 Zulhijjah) and start making preparations for next year's Hajj season," said Muhammad Burhanordin, who is also responsible for the smooth running of the nine stations.

Muhammad Burhanordin was also quoted as saying that managing the crowd is a massive challenge, not only due to the numbers and the language barrier, but also the fact that many of the pilgrims are elderly people and quite a number would be using the metro service for the first time.

"Insyaallah, we will deliver the best service in the history of the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Makkah Metro this year," he added. — Bernama