HAP Consortium comprising Hyundai Rotem and Posco Engineering from Korea and Apex Communications, Malaysia, has been awarded a Ringgits 1.62bn contact for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the trains and depot. MRT requires 58 four-car trains to operate the line at 3min 20s headways.

Bombardier and Global Rail have won a Ringgits 458m contract to install, test and commission the signalling and train control system for the line. A fully automated driverless system is planned.

Malaysian Resources Corporation and IJM Construction have won contracts worth Ringgits 2.1bn for the construction of elevated sections totalling7.2km of the 52.2km line which will run in an arc from Sungai Buloh to the northwest of Kuala Lumpur round to the eastern side of the city centre and then south via Sungai Besi to Putrajaya. The SSP Line, as it is also known, will have 11 underground and 26 elevated stations.

"Earlier, we saw many of our civil works being awarded," says the CEO of MRT Mr Seri Shahril Mokhtar. "We have now moved to the stage where we are awarding Systems Work Packages. This is very good progress for the SSP Line."