He added that construction is proceeding smoothly, with the Kelantan phase of the project at 75.8% so far, Bernama reported.

“The 43km ECRL alignment in Kelantan involves the construction of two stations, Kota Bharu for passengers only and Pasir Puteh Station for passengers and cargo.

“The alignment from Kota Bharu to the integrated transport terminal in Gombak, Selangor, is expected to be completed on schedule in December 2026 and services will commence in January 2027.

“Meanwhile, the ECRL alignment from Gombak to Port Klang is scheduled to be completed by December 2027,” he said after attending an MRL breaking of fast event in Kota Bharu last night.

Darwis said work in Kelantan showed commendable progress, including land acquisition, which is complete.

He added that the construction of bridges for elevated sections was also progressing smoothly.

“Recently, we successfully dug through three tunnels, bringing the total to 30 (tunnels) out of 41.

According to Darwis, 92.2km of track had been laid from Kuantan to Dungun.

The ECRL project is a 665km RM50.3 billion rail network that connects the east coast and the west coast, namely Kota Bharu in Kelantan to Gombak (Selangor). It is expected that travel time between these points will drop to four hours from the current seven-hour road journey, or more than 12 hours during festive seasons.