KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 – Recent claims that the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) cannot run on Penang Island have been refuted. During a recent appearance on Astro Awani’s ‘Consider This,’ Penang State Exco for Infrastructure & Transportation, Zairil Khir Johari, justified the Penang Light Rail Transit (LRT) project despite admitting that the state lacks the ridership to sustain it. Critics argue that the infrastructure required for any LRT system, regardless of its scale, would significantly impact Penang’s landscape and incur massive costs.
Advocates for the ART point out that it offers a flexible and cost-effective alternative to the LRT, which would avoid permanently “locking up” land for elevated tracks and stations. The ART can be rerouted to accommodate new developments and could easily serve the critical routes from KOMTAR to the airport, and across the Penang bridge to the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone. This system could be implemented faster and at a fraction of the LRT’s cost, potentially reducing single-occupant vehicle usage during rush hours and alleviating congestion.
