Its president, Abdul Razak Md Hassan, said KTMB’s recent statement that the railway line was safe should be seen in the full context of the entire rail network.

Yesterday, KTMB said the rail network was safe, although the KVDT2 project – involving two tracks between Salak South and Seremban, and between Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Port Klang – is the subject of a court battle between the contractor and the transport ministry.

It said the network could be used for passenger and freight operations although services had been limited.

“KTMB’s statement is actually in line with the union’s. They have highlighted how maintenance work is being carried out to ensure the safety of the rail network,” said Razak.

“But the reality is that at certain locations the trains are not able to operate as usual because of the condition of the track.”

At these locations, he said, trains could only travel at 15km an hour instead of 90km, as they would on tracks which were in good condition.

“On the tracks which are in poor condition, going above 15km an hour can cause derailment as we have seen in the two recent incidents in Bangi and Shah Alam,” he said.

Razak said the track should only be considered safe if the trains could run normally, without having to slow down.

“For how long more are we supposed to carry out maintenance works? This is constant firefighting. The solution is to proceed with the KVDT2 project and replace the old tracks.”

He said the ministry should not be delaying the project and should put the public’s safety first.

“We are not convinced that the ministry is doing its best when it continues to delay the project. This is disappointing especially since it involves the safety of workers and passengers.”

Veteran transportation planning consultant Rosli Azad Khan said an independent audit of the network would be a “move in the right direction” to ensure safety of the rail service was prioritised.

Without an audit, he said, “the rail systems will continue to operate under capacity, causing unnecessary stress to the rail infrastructure and services that may lead to compromises in their safe operation”.

Rosli said moving from a double-track operation to a single track, as has been the case during the rehabilitation project, means more of a train’s operations must be performed manually, opening up greater possibilities for human error.

He said the government should “make this problem their top, or highest, priority”.

“Bring in railway experts to audit and recommend a way forward, possibly reverting to a double-track operation with slightly lower speed,” he said.