SYNOPSIS

The railway industry is growing rapidly in Malaysia. The continued investment by the government on the railway would mean that the industry must be prepared to transform itself in facing future challenges in terms of safety, development, train operations, maintenance and future planning. There is also a need to have a better control on the quality and types of products to be introduced in Malaysia. As more and more new products from abroad are being introduced to the industry, we must not ignore the legacy systems that had already been in place in the railway for many years in Malaysia. These pose interesting challenges to the regulator and operators.

To transform the industry, we must also look into enhancing safety awareness and technical knowhow within the industry. Simultaneously, we must look into enhancing the capability of the local manufacturers to enable them to support the railway industry.

Several new strategies and initiatives are being introduced for this purpose. This includes the establishment of the Railway Safety Committee, development of railway technical standards and human capital technology transfer programme. The presentation will touch on the safety, approval processes and technology transfer particularly on rolling stocks.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Mr Yuslizar B. Daud, a Chartered Engineer, graduated in Electrical Engineering from University of Aberdeen. He is currently pursuing a MSc. in Railway System Engineering and Integration at University of Birmingham. He has been in the railway industry for 25 years and has developed a field of interest in railway safety, project implementation, feasibility studies, assets renewal and operations including assets maintenance.

He started his career in railway as a graduate at British Railways Board in London in 1990 where he was involved in several projects including the Channel Tunnel power supply reinforcement, Redhill-Tonbridge Line and West London Line electrification. In 1995, he returned to Malaysia to join STAR LRT project until its completion. Two years later, Mr Yuslizar joined Express Rail Link project and was later part of the initial team responsible to set up the ERL Maintenance Support [E-MAS], the operation and maintenance company of the ERL Systems. He returned to the UK in 2005 and was attached to Network Rail where he was involved in a number of traction power supply assets renewal projects such as the renewal of the HV switchgear, high speed DC switchgear, power transformers and rectifiers. In year 2007, Mr Yuslizar joined Transport for London and was attached to the East London Line Project. Upon the completion of the project in 2010, he returned to Malaysia and was attached to KTMB until May 2011. In June 2011, Mr Yuslizar joined Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat [S.P.A.D] as the Head of Rail. His roles include providing the Regulatory Oversight of the MRT Line 1 and 2 projects, LRT Line Extension Projects, LRT3 Project, new rolling stocks & systems, railway operation and assets maintenance. His current passion is to develop Malaysia’s own railway standards. The project is on-going and is expected to be rolled out in not too distant future.