KUALA LUMPUR: Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, operator of Mecca’s Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Southern Line (MMMSL) in Saudi Arabia, has secured another international job, this time to provide training for train drivers and operation control centre staff of Jakarta’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.
Brokered by its subsidiary, Prasarana Integrated Management & Engineering Services (Prime), the training will be provided under an agreement with Akademi Perkeretaapian Indonesia (API), which is the republic’s leading rail training centre.
Prime, which has been aggressively venturing into the international market, especially after the success of MMMSL, said that a letter of acceptance of the training proposal was received last month.
Its chief executive officer Masnizam Hisham said training for Indonesian rail staff would be conducted by Rail Academy, an internationally-recognised training centre under the management of Prasarana’s other subsidiary company, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd.
“The first batch, consisting of 10 train drivers and five controllers, will be coming to the academy in April, to be followed by other batches, plus the possibility of other areas of collaboration,” said Masnizam, who is also project director for MMMSL operations.
She said the collaboration between Prasarana and MRT Jakarta was made possible after both parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Jakarta in October last year.
Under the MoU, Prasarana agreed to share its experience in the planning and operations of urban rail lines with its Indonesian counterpart.
Both parties had also agreed to explore the possibility of exchanges in technical and operational information, expertise, and know how to enhance and develop their mutual capabilities.
Last year, Rail Academy also provided training for 30 of Saudi Arabia’s train drivers to support MMMSL’s operations during the haj season.
It was widely considered the best in the history of the service, which had been in operation since 2010.