Hyundai Rotem's unmanned electric trains exported to Malaysia start running

South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem has started running all of the unmanned electric trains it has exported to Malaysia.

The company on Thursday said 4-car x 49 set of unmmaned electric train delivered to Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Co., a public railway company in Malaysia, began commercial operations.

The train run this time were ordered in 2016 and have been run sequentially since June last year.

The Malaysian train procurement project has received massive all-around diplomatic support from the Malaysian government. The Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is also providing multi-directional assistance to win additional orders for Circle MRT Line 3 following Line 2.

The company’s project for Line 2, aka the Putrajaya Line, seeks to build 37 stations spanning 52.2 km from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital. The Line 2 section is expected to improve the transportation system by connecting downtown streets, tourist attractions and the administrative capital.

Hyundai Rotem attended the ceremony for the opening of Line 2’s second-phase section held at Serdang Depot in Kuala Lumpur, as well as support the train test-drive event.

The event was attended by around 300 high-ranking political figures like Malaysian Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim and Transport Minister Anthony Loke. The Korean side was represented  by Ambassador to Malaysia Yeo Seung-bae, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official Oh Soo-young, and Kim Jeong-hoon, head of Hyundai Rotem’s Rail Solutions Division.

Based on its stable supply of unmanned electric trains for Line 2, Hyundai Rotem is now concentrating on its Line 3 project undergoing pre-qualification and other projects to come later.

The company has a track record of exporting over 2,000 trains, including the unmanned electric cars for MRT Line 2.

“Based on the trust we’ve built here over a long time, we will aim to supply even better trains,” a Hyundai Rotem source said.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com