New Penang Hill Train

The new Swiss made coaches for the Penang Hill train service have arrived. The two coaches, each weighing 16 tonnes and measuring 16m in length, were unloaded at the foot of the hill after arriving yesterday. Penang Public Works, Utilities and Transportation Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said the coaches, with 5 compartments each, would be put on the tracks for a trial run once the RM63mil upgrading of the funicular system was completed in November.The modern coaches will still have the wooden benches, which shows that it still keeping the heritage value intact,” he said when met at the foot of Penang Hill yesterday.He also added that the upgrading was originally scheduled for completion in September but had been delayed as the contractors needed more time to strengthen the tracks’ foundation and slopes.On Feb 22, the 87-year-old funicular train service ceased operations to make way for the RM63mil upgrading project by the Tourism Ministry.The new airconditioned coaches, which can carry 50 people each, will travel non-stop between the foot of the hill and the top station under the upgraded system unlike the old system where passengers have to change trains at the middle station.The commuting time of the new service would be less than 10 minutes per way compared to 30 minutes previously. The new service would be able to carry 1,000 passengers per hour compared to 250 under the old system. Futher more the coaches also would be able to glide down at a slower speed to the lower station should there be any technical glitch or power supply disruption. There would also be a sensor system to enable early detection of landslides or trees falling onto the rail tracks as well as a stand-by generator to provide power should there be electricity supply disruption.