Profiles Easing the rush hour SNC-Lavalin’s rail and transit engineering expertise is proving in demand to assist with some challenging projects around the world. Viewpoint looks at how the team in Malaysia are adding value to the country’s most significant public transport scheme Words Andrew Bennett Kuala Lumpur is a city on the move with construction work in full swing on a state-of-the art integrated urban mass rapid transit (MRT) network. We spoke to the SNC-Lavalin engineering team whose technical expertise will help on the project that aims to cut traffic congestion in the heavily populated Malaysian capital. Carrying up to 400,000 passengers a day along a 51-kilometre route, the Klang Valley MRT (KVMRT) Corporation’s Line One (The MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line) will be among the most modern MRT systems in the world. Initially, the project spans two lines in total, with a third in prospect. Line One has been designed to handle up to 20,000 passengers an hour, in each direction, along a rail corridor served by seven underground stations, 24 elevated stations and 58 trains. It’s a substantial civil engineering project for the Malaysian government, and running their expert eye over many of the project’s technical aspects is a team of around 15 staff from SNC- Lavalin working in joint venture (JV) with HSS Integrated, a Malaysian engineering company specialising in rail infrastructure development. The JV is named the Independent Consultant Engineer, ICE for short. Experienced team The SNC-Lavalin staff on the ICE team are a mix of engineers drawn from various parts of SNC- Lavalin and new hires from the rail industry – all experienced in rail and transit. Veteran engineer, Project Manager Dan Baicoianu, says the scale of the project is impressive. ‘This is a very important project for Malaysia; the largest capital project currently being undertaken,’ says Dan, who has many years of experience on rail projects in several countries. ‘KL’s rail transit scheme has developed at a very fast rate. I have worked on rail projects in Los Angeles on and off since 1986, and KL has caught up with LA since then, and overtaken it in terms of kilometres and technology.’ As one of the flagship mass transit projects in Asia, delivery of the Klang Valley MRT project has been running for more than four years and will form part of a new, fully integrated, rail transportation system. The project draws on the expertise SNC-Lavalin has acquired in many years of work on modern transit system projects, including Vancouver’s SkyTrain and Canada Line systems. As expected for a project of this size and complexity, a large number of local and foreign companies are working on the project. KVMRT’s Project Delivery Partner, made up of two major Malaysian construction firms – Corporation Berhad and Gamuda Berhad – selected a number of local construction companies, and 13 systems firms from Malaysia and countries including Germany, Canada, China, Japan, Singapore and Korea. Engineering expertise This is a very important project for Malaysia... the scheme has developed at a very fast rate Dan Baicoianu Project Manager, Rail & Transit Engineering According to Dan, this project draws on SNC-Lavalin’s engineering expertise, concerning all aspects of programme and overall system design, and specific technical knowledge of: underground works; rolling stock; trackwork; communications; signalling; power; fare collection; building management; radio, from design to testing; and commissioning and readiness for revenue operation. The team reviews a host of technical information from the international and local partner companies relating to the various engineering aspects of the project, acting as independent consultants for the owner. Following the design stage, the engineers took part in factory visits for equipment testing and are now busy monitoring site installation, testing and commissioning. Plans and procedures Now the line has reached its testing and commissioning phase, work has taken on another dimension, with the SNC-Lavalin team involved in reviewing and commenting on plans and procedures for commissioning activities, and attending site tests. Passenger operations should start in December this year, with the new line becoming fully operational by July 2017. Dan explains that MRT Line One will offer ‘rapid transit, which is totally “grade separated” – there is no street-running anywhere; the line is mostly elevated but there are sections of underground running in the downtown area’. Beyond the first line, MRT Line Two in Kuala Lumpur is planned as a second intersecting route (SNC-Lavalin is not involved in the Line Two project). A third line is also at the planning stage, intended to enable easy connection of more peripheral parts of the city to the overall mass transport system. viewpoint@snclavalin.com snclavalin.com